Wei Zhang - gad · CLIENT: Gad
Taizhou Z Center is an office building with commercial areas in the central business district of Taizhou, Zhejiang. The L-shaped main slab building rises 90 meters and extends along Shifu Avenue. Cantilevered and overhead volumes create sheltered space for shops on the ground floor. A diagonal path crosses the site and links the high-rise and the shopping center. The main building and neighboring buildings enclose an open public square. Glass and perforated aluminum panels wrap the folded plate facade. A sky garden divides the two functional blocks and offers a shared view of the landscape.
Press Kit
- Unique Properties
- From the point of view of the site selection in the central business district, the heart of a city usually means highly intensive development of blocks, and the surrounding greenbelts and transportation system outline an increasingly clear boundary for it. In the face of the project land that integrates office and commercial needs, our design expected to break the solidified paradigm of closed parks, and create a lively and cordial interface for the bustling crowds based on the roots of the city. The main ideas of Taizhou Z Center surely include key words below:
1. Aggregate: Layout Strategy of Implanting A Square;
2. Overlap: Vertical Expansion of Composite Functions;
3. Connect: Place Creation to Boost Vitality.
So this project will be submitted by following the three key ideas mentioned above. - Dimensions & Packaging
- According to the difference of the functional layout, the main building was rendered a distinct block-joining look. At the same time, materials such as glass and perforated aluminum panels with similar colors were used to maintain the lightness and unity of the overall modeling language. The 90-meter-high main slab building spreads as far as possible along the Shifu Avenue, jumping out of the surrounding buildings, and gently incorporating to the city skyline.
- Tags
- Z, City Vitality Catalyst, High-rise Office
- Production Technology
- Based on the analysis of urban behavior patterns, we used a large number of cantilever and overhead techniques to provide gray space for commercial func-tions of the ground floor and show the echoing relationship between the square and the city.
Taizhou Z Center, the high-rise center and shopping center in diagonal form a convenient pedestrian flowpath across the base. With this hidden oblique axis, the L-shaped main building, the Nanyang Science and Technology Building on the west and the residential slabs of Yulan Plaza on the north naturally enclose to form a public and open city square. The plane stretches open, returning the inner space to the city. - Design Challenge
- The land use conditions are particularly harsh in the city's axis, where an inch of land values an inch of gold. The building density was limited to 20%. Although it was a tough starting point, we turned the challenge into the unique symbol of Z Center in the process of deepening.
- Project Duration
- The project started in 2007 and finished in 2010 in Taizhou of Zhejiang.
- Operation Flow
- In the face of the project land that integrates office and commercial needs, our design expected to break the solidified paradigm of closed parks, and cre-ate a lively and cordial interface for the bustling crowds based on the roots of the city.The square block on the corner of the street has a close dialogue with the neighboring administrative, cultural and business districts.
- Research
- The Central Park is facing the south side of the project, and form a continuous green axis of landscape with the Waterscape Park adjacent to the business dis-trict, the Civic Square and Baiyun Mountain. The south and east sides of the L-shaped main building open up the sight corridors, and we have set up a show-case-like sky garden at the key point of the block-joining part. It not only makes a natural division between the two functional blocks, but also weakens the sense of high-level volume. It connects with the distant landscape from the vertical dimension of the space, and is a relatively shared communication plat-form.
The landmark of the Z Center project indicates the façade treatment method of the main building wrapped by folded plates, as well as the flow guide of the entrance and exit of the volume cutting. It is applied to mathematical summation, and may also contain a certain metaphor: in the development, the building itself and the vitality of the city are taken into account, effectively stimulating the catalytic effect, so as to achieve transcendence on balance. - Inspiration
- The expectable landmark of the Z Center project derives from “∑”. This symbol indicates the façade treatment method of the main building wrapped by folded plates, as well as the flow guide of the entrance and exit of the volume cutting. It is applied to mathematical summation, and may also contain a certain metaphor: in the development, the building itself and the vitality of the city are taken into account, effectively stimulating the catalytic effect, so as to achieve transcendence on balance.
- Image Credits
- Image #1: Photographer Li Yao, Taizhou Z Center, 2020.
Image #2: Photographer Li Yao, The aerial view, 2020.
Image #3: Photographer Li Yao, External view of the building, 2020.
Image #4: Photographer Li Yao, Street view from different directions, 2020.
Image #5: Photographer Li Yao, Joined blocks of the main building, 2020.
Video Credits: Molan Digital Studio Of Hangzhou.
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