Client: Huaxia Xinfu Development Co ltd.
Gross Floor Area: 7000sqm. Site Area: 15000sqm
Project Location: Nanjing Jiangsu Province
Design Team: Pro-Form Architects (UK) in collaboration with HMD Consultants Shanghai (China)
Work Stage: Conceptual/Feasibility
Serving as the key part of the new district development public service hub, this building is expected to be used as a venue to show-case the urban planning and the leading developer’s office and roadshow centre.
There are three major functions to be accommodated:
- Urban planning Exhibition hall
- Cooperate Office and Road-show Hall
- VIP hospitality & meeting
The overall site using strategy is an east-west arrangement, where the exhibition block is by its general public servicing nature is placed on the west facing the main road junction while the cooperate block on the west facing the wetland park.
intermediating the two blocks, an oval-shaped courtyard and amphitheatre is placed in the middle, softening the overall masculine massing. Underneath the seating area of the amphitheatre, there lays the public toilets shared by the exhibition and cooperate blocks.
In addition to the amphitheatre, there are several other Voids in between solids massing, inheriting traditional Chinese garden language as to create some semi-enclosed landscaped courtyards, where at least one side have fenestrations facing outside through tall walls. Tree canopies and flora and bushes can be seen from both inside the semi-private interior and from the public exterior.
In material language, the building features double-storey height stone cladding wall as the ‘outskirts’ and three storey mass with slightly set-back and dark-grey brick-tiled massing as the ‘cores’
Addressing the best possible day-lighting atmosphere, the Architects proposed a set of industrial type of north-facing skylights, whilst the ground-level window was not designed to introduce large amount of daylight that may cause glare, instead the opening was lowered and only limited to the immediate perimeter landscapes.
Apart from a long gentle ramp designed for viewing the exhibits from various angles, the architect also elaborated on the generic use of the exhibition hall, which could cater for unforeseeable future changes, for example when the urban planning exhibition is no longer needed, the space could be used such as an arts gallery or a large auditorium with 2nd level gallery etc.