Qingdao Innovative Technology Park Centrum Visitatorum

Press Kit

Unique Properties

Qingdao West Coast Innovative Technology Park is part of the new town development centered around the Qingdao West High Speed Rail Station. It consists of 110,000 square meters of office space and a visitor center of 5,000 square meters. The Visitor Center showcases the concepts of “green, health, smart”. It includes a science center by Sinochem Group, an exhibition hall featuring the master plan of the new town development, conference rooms, dining facilities and a coffee bar.

Dimensions & Packaging

The total GFA for the Visitor Centre is 4836 sqm, land area is 22190 sqm. The building height is 16.92m and three floors.

Tags

Exhibition, Qingdao, Between the Waves, coastal landscape, dialogue between the Roof and the Ground

Production Technology

The Visitor Center employs a number of green building technologies, such as electronic intelligent control system, CdTe thin film solar photovoltaic integrated panels, high efficiency frequency conversion multi line system, fresh air heat recovery system, efficient water-saving appliances, ionic waterfall system, negative ion spray that is integrated with outdoor railings, etc. The building is currently in the process of getting certifications for HQE, Health Building 2-Star, and Construction 21.

Design Challenge

The project design is highly focused on the combination of function and standard, emotion and experience, as wells as becoming an environmentally-friendly system for the city. The challenge is from technique part. How to make the wave shape come true is for architect and engineer to think. Meanwhile, large spans of wood for creating special space feeling is difficult for structure. After that, Visitor Center needs to achieve environmental standard by using solar panel.

Research

During the high development of urbanization, one of the most important responsibilities of architect is to respect local culture and nature environment of the seaside city, and at the same time to communicate with the central landscape axis on the east side around the base and the urban main road to improve the urban space and environment. Qingdao is nearby the sea. During the design process, architect considered how to combine wave onto the façade.

Inspiration

Qingdao is a city with expansive long sea shores. The design of the Visitor Center tries to capture the spirit of the ‘sea waves’, with undulating roof surfaces and ground surfaces. In between the roof and the ground, the space expands and flows with a dynamic energy akin to ‘surfing’ in the waves. The roof and ground planes of the building overhang out of the glass curtain wall, extending the interior space out to the exterior city space.

Project Duration

The project located on West Dongyue Rd, Huangdao Dist., Qingdao, China, which has been completed in 2020.

Operation Flow

The steps grow out of the ground and is the ‘event generator’ of the place. The roof curves down and touches the ground on the north of the grand steps, and the interior surface of the roof bulges into the space, reinforcing the flow of the space. The first floor area behind the grand steps are meeting rooms and the Sinochem Science Center. Here the space warps up in continuous curves. Large spans of wood veneer ceiling give the interior space a warm feeling.

Image Credits

Image#1: Arch-Exist
Image#2: Arch-Exist
Image#3: Arch-Exist
Image#4: Arch-Exist
Image#5: Yan Zheng