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Architects: Atelier L
- Area: 60008 m²
- Year: 2022
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Photographs:Chao Zhang
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Lead Architects: Dake Li, Nan Lei
Text description provided by the architects. As an expansion of the headquarter campus, the project aims to achieve 3.0 FAR under the lot size of 14,290 square meters. When the project was taken over, the building massing has been set already. Therefore, the first mission is to redesign the exterior façade, and then integrate the architecture and landscape. The scope extends to the interior public areas. Eventually, the results accomplish the campus as a whole. The site used to be a quarry, and many boulders were discovered during the foundation excavation. Our initial reaction is to preserve this special “site memory” and take advantage of them. The stones are placed as the feature elements for the gardens which resonate with the ‘genius loci’.
The facade originated from Guangzhou Veranda House. We connected each building through a series of exterior loggias. We wanted the façade to be sculpted by shadows that help to ventilate and fine-tune the buildings’ microclimate. The facade is composed of a series of eaves from the loggia, podium, and tower levels. This visual language connects each individual building into a new ensemble. The color of the brick tiles is custom-made to matte beige. It alters slightly under the time shift of lighting environments.
We proposed a separate exhibition hall to form a U-shaped masterplan layout, which is considered to resonate with the semi-enclosed layout of the old campus.
The wide-open ground floor plaza anchors the scattered buildings as pedestals, offering the campus a coherent and decent temperament. The loggia connecting the podium and the exhibition hall is not only a part of the facade but also an extension of the plaza. It generates a buffer zone, balancing between different scales of elements while blurring the boundary between indoors and outdoor. The sunken garden has three different height levels, with a water fountain and channel to create a peaceful environment. A visual corridor is linked across the axis between the sunken garden, lobby, and exhibition hall.
The terrace garden on the fifth floor surrounds the crape myrtle which is divided into three platforms. People meet and mingle through feature walls while shifting their attention from the surroundings to the greens. The pace gradually slows down through steps and height differences, and finally enters the tea room through the wooden fencing.
The main lobby is divided into east & west halls. A multifunctional hall is introduced on the top floor of the podium. A span of 18.5 meters is realized by removing the redundant columns, maximizing the interaction between the stage and the audience.
The blur of the boundary also happens in the tea room adjacent to the terrace garden. Under nice weather when the bi-fold doors are opened, it accommodates various ways of wondering, viewing, living, and dining as a whole.
Although the project is programmed for manufacturing purposes, the integrated loggias and courtyards achieve a slow architecture to pursue a better working environment. The passage of time, the growth of plants, and traces of usage will enrich the texture of the campus.
