AVIC Shanghai Industrial Park // Hatch Architects

Text description provided by the architects.

AVIC Shanghai Industrial ParkThe project lies in Shanghai West Bund. There is a river running through the site, dividing the site into two parts: the west part and the east part. As a result, architects utilize the river to establish a park-like industrial community. Four groups, Engineering Center, Industrial Center, Creativity Center, and Headquarters are in the west part to form the complete industrial district, as well as to display the unique organization social image on the route from rural area to urban area, while the east part is designed to provide various fundamental services.

The corresponding service providers are planned alongside the main river to maximize the water landscape. The whole site is well-designed for every section to function and collaborate with each other.In the west part of the site, north-south avenues and west-east streets together cut the area into several subgroups with different sizes.

Headquarters and Creativity Center are placed on the main axis. There are driveways around the main public garden, which lead to one of the entrances with canopy to Headquarters. The buildings of Engineering Center occupy the south-west corner, completing the function subgroup by connecting and enclosing with each other. Industrial Center lies on the north section with isolated logistics circulation to meet the demand of researching, producing, and transporting.

On the east part of the project lies the life-style area with residence and entertainment, including housing for talents and commercial space.

The area takes full advantage of the riverside resources to build the public space with human-scale.The project enlarges one end of the river to create the water landscape plaza. The buildings alongside the plaza are designed with the shape of aircraft wings, forming the gateway image of the organization.Inspired by the light-weighted construction from fluid mechanics, buildings in this project are implemented with the concept of floating.

Large glass windows are used for the wall curtain to open each building visually. The lobby on the ground floor is also designed in a way to give more space for walking circulation.There is a floor with a large semi-outdoor public garden sitting in the middle part of the building, creating a green lounge for employees.The floors below the public garden are designed to be open-space office areas to encourage communications within employees, and are for flexibility as well.On the floors above the public garden, independent office rooms with different sizes could be set for various purposes.

Columns with different width are connected by V-shaped huge trusses, very similar to the spacecraft, which constructions among each space are visually exposed.The Industrial Center combines both functions of research and development in the same building. Long trusses and exquisite metal plates are used for development space. On the other hand, office space is “floated” above the development space via massive columns and vertical transportation systems.

Additionally, glass wall curtains are used in office space to establish a modern office image. The whole combination in the building meets the demand of new research and productivity space, expressing the sense of technology through unique constructions.

The atrium in the Headquarters building divides the building into two symmetry parts: headquarters office space and creativity center.

Facades of the lower levels mainly adopt the concept of louver to deliver the message of firm and solid. While the facades of upper levels are slightly inclined towards the center to somehow lighten the building, as well as to create a unique window for central corridors. Two huge pieces of canopies on the rooftop are designed to have the shape of aircraft wings, as if they were stretching and ascending – to fly to the bright future.

The overall design is based on the principles of green, communication, innovation, and efficiency, combined with Shanghai’s geographical climate and planning conditions, and puts forward the design concept of “Antigravity”, which fits the characteristics of the aviation industry, and aims to highlight modern, ecology, healthy and intelligent idea.

Technically, through the introduction of green smart technologies such as photovoltaic power generation, smart parking, sponge cities, ground-source heat pumps, and ice storage, the largest realization of “carbon neutrality” in the industrial park, making “smart green” practical Named..