the new center for hangzhou
Yuhang Urban Service Complex
Cite: gad | 2023 | Hangzhou, Zhejiang
Design Team: Ye Fang, Yixiang Ma, Chuhua Ding, etc
The Urban Service Complex project is located in the future science and technology city of Yuhang District, Hangzhou, in the new city center. It is a key node on Hangzhou's new central axis, connecting the Central Park area with the Jinghu Business District. In the future, it will become a core cultural building on the central axis, open to the public.
The project site covers approximately 61,307 m², with a total construction area of around 210,000 m². The above-ground floor area is approximately 61,000 m², which includes 29,000 m² for the Activity Center and 32,000 m² for the Library Center.
The project is anchored by its site positioning. Through architectural design techniques, it organizes innovative building functions and spaces, echoing the axial relationship of the new center, and aims to create a landmark building along this axis.
The design concept of the project is inspired by "Yuhang Floating Lotus," using a natural shell to wrap and protect the vibrant and dynamic public services and civic activities within.
Foster + Partners has won the international competition to design a new centre for Hangzhou, the capital of China’s Zhejiang province. The masterplan creates a green and interconnected mixed-use quarter, at the heart of the Yuhang District.
Based on the urban design completed by Foster + Partners, we redesigned the urban service complex within the site and successfully won the final bid, defeating more than twenty domestic and international firms.
Key Point 1: How to respect the central axis?
The architectural layout follows the openness of the axis, creating a "regulator" that responds to the planning axis and harmonizes the urban relationship.On a macro scale, the design aligns with the directional and connective qualities of the city’s axis. On a micro scale, through the "public cultural axis" running east-west and the "Civic Leisure Core" at the center of the site, the design gathers people from various directions, continuously generating public benefits through the provision of architectural public services.
Key Point 2: How to integrate the park?
The architectural design enhances the integration of the park, aiming to create a harmonious "habitat" for citizens, where the building and park are unified.Unlike traditional architectural forms, the design incorporates a terraced approach, bringing the park's greenery onto the building itself. The vertical green interface created by this design connects with the surrounding sunken courtyards, achieving the goal of integrating the building and the park.
Key Point 3: How to create an engaging facade?
The design enhances the richness of the building's facade to balance the experience of comfort with the architectural prominence of a "new landmark."The project creates a three-story shared atrium, generating different vertical layers and an interactive interface between interior and exterior functions. This establishes a "urban service complex" that attracts citizens, encouraging them to gather and stay.
Key Point 4: How to make the space vibrant?
By creating active and lively spaces, the project aims to build a new urban "gathering place" that is suitable for learning, tourism, and recreation.The design includes four "leisure space boxes," which connect vertical public circulation and organize the core public spaces of the different functional blocks. Additionally, the design incorporates a daylight atrium that shapes the fifth facade, resonating with the "Yuhang Floating Lotus" concept.
Through the responses and interpretations of the above four key issues, the design addresses a series of challenges related to the project's landmark status and functionality. It creates a vibrant urban service complex wrapped in greenery and nature—a new landmark where architecture and function are seamlessly integrated.
Here, we roam within the city park, experiencing the natural beauty and vitality of the park, immersed in the landscape of Jiangnan's mountains and waters. Here, we sail through the ocean of knowledge, discovering and unfolding within the city's public services, feeling the cultural vitality of the metropolis.
"Koi swimming amidst lotus, floating lotus blooms on the water."
Inspired by the concept of "floating lotus," and based on citizens' behavioral and experiential patterns, the design aims to create a modern public life full of traditional ambiance. By integrating the principles of "human-centered, composite, natural, and interconnected," this project lays the foundation for Yuhang to become the happiest urban new center.
