Project Overview

Haimen International Community Exhibition Center is located in Haimen, Nantong city, southeast of Jiangsu Province, facing Shanghai across the river. The city has been praised as "The Hometown of Science and Technology", "The Hometown of Education" and so on. With its prosperous economy and profound historical background, it is one of the representatives of Wu Yue Culture.

The site is located in the important urban landscape green belt, namely, east of the Zhang Jian Avenue, south of the Shanghai Road and north of the Hong Kong Road, and its eastern side is not yet functional. The plot is relatively flat and divided into two by a landscape river in the middle. Based on the study of the surrounding environment and the purpose of maximizing the display function of the exhibition area, the project selects the park land on the east side, with the entrance set on the west side of the park, and also designs a parking lot by using the dead end on the west side of the park. Architect Alvaro Siza once proposed the idea of "Roaming Around in Architecture", that is, "reaching an unforgettable destination through a winding, streamlined path - artificial or natural." The building unfolds as one passes through a path with curved and fallen white walls. The juxtaposition of the modernist style and the traditional sense of ritual and the sharp contrast between square and circle bring visual impact to the audience and make them feel relaxed.

Project Commissioner

China Merchants Shekou Holdings

Project Creator

Lacime Architects

Team

Song Zhaoqing(lead arhitect), Chen Bin, Li Ming, Chang Lei, Li Zhi, Liu Zhaoxin, Wang Shanshan, Qu Sijia

Project Brief

Through the superposition and combination of forms, the exhibition center forms different spatial levels and height changes in the vertical direction, and satisfies the continuous facade display as long as possible along the river side. The function of facade display, the different properties of virtual and real representational space, and the openness and privacy are clear at a glance.

The whole project adopts modern architectural vocabulary, and aluminum plate inlaid and coated glass is used for material treatment. Its structure logic is clear, and the details are exquisite. Extreme architectural aesthetics provides people with a warm sense of reality.

This building aims to create a pure image, just like the sky with floating clouds, the vast sea and the staggered rocks.

The indoor and outdoor spaces adopt the same technique, form and keynote. The minimalist architectural vocabulary integrates the space elements full of contemporary artistic atmosphere into the quiet and simple aesthetic place. It abandons all complicated decorations, and uses the purity of materials and colors, the changing rhythm, and the form and structure itself to construct the space. The surrounding environment naturally forms a whole with the building, which not only blurs the boundary between inside and outside, but also shows the plain and elegant space atmosphere and rational and orderly keynote texture.

Project Innovation/Need

Haimen International Community Exhibition Center is expected to embody the humanistic spirit of urban culture in northern Suzhou with modern design techniques and make itself an integral part of the city's green axis park ecosystem. To this end, the project creatively presents a three-layer structure characterized by three building materials that epitomize sky, sea and Taihu stone--metal materials are applied to reflect the cleanest light in nature onto the top of the building to form an architectural space through which ever-changing weather conditions can be observed; the river is diverted through furred ceiling and blue glass layer into the interior of the architecture, creating an intriguing water landscape; and structure with diverse tiers and hollow-out gray space has incorporated the culture of Taihu stone into the ingenious architectural design of the building.

Design Challenge

The project is based in a park, and how to integrate the existing river way and the city becomes a challenge in the overall layout of the project from the very beginning. To tackle this problem, diverse building forms have been carefully crafted to break the rigid pattern of original water landscape. Gray space inside and outside the architectural structure echoes the banks of the river. The architects’ selection of materials refers to the properties of metal materials and the application of open curtain walls. With innovative design techniques, the radius of the arc at the junction where different materials meet has been eliminated by taking advantage of the cuts of the materials. The facade is covered with anodized aluminum plates that can produce oxide membrane with diffused effect when reflecting the sky, thus reducing the optical pollution caused by metallic reflection and creating dramatic light and shade effects.

The courtyard in the structure not just reduces the noise influence brought by the public development space in the outer park, but also divides the landscape system into two different spaces featuring movement and quietness. This clever design has made the layout more diverse and interesting as a whole.

Sustainability

Architects try to cut the use of glass as much as possible to reduce light pollution. The aluminum plates are also treated by anodic oxidation to minimize the effect of mirror reflection on surrounding vegetation and construction. The architect also makes the whole site a green landscape in the park.

Besides, glass-topped skylight design in the atrium can add natural lights to the platform and reduces the use of lighting while keeping the space transparent and bright. This is an effective way to bring down the cost and protect the environment. Waterfront landscape in the project uses soft and natural materials to ensure a natural transition to the river, which can avoid water pollution caused by the hard top.

Vegetation in the park is retained in the architectural design to save the trouble of transplant and lower the cost. The existing vegetation landscape also implies the profound historical background of the park. The inheritance and continuity of both new and old elements is fully reflected in the design too.

Architecture - Mixed Use - International

This award celebrates the design process and product of planning, designing and constructing form, space and ambience that reflect functional, technical, social, and aesthetic considerations. Consideration given for material selection, technology, light and shadow. 
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