Platinum Architecture, Building and Structure Design · 2021
Qingdao Innovative Technology Park Visitor Center
by Aico
- A' Design Award 2021 Platinum Winner in Architecture, Building and Structure Design
- Awarded April 15, 2021
- CLIENT: Jinmao
- Estimated Number of Design Views: 213,012
- Verification code 5F03DAA16D · Verify this award
About Qingdao Innovative Technology Park Visitor Center
Qingdao Innovative Technology Park is a visitor center in Qingdao, China. The building has a gross floor area of 4,836 square meters, a height of 16.92 meters and three floors. The undulating roof and ground surfaces recall sea waves, and both planes extend beyond the glass curtain wall to link interior and exterior space. Grand steps rise from the ground and lead to meeting rooms and a science center. Wide spans of wood veneer ceiling give the interior a warm character. Green technologies include thin film solar panels, a heat recovery system and water-saving fittings.
Aico Ltd's Visitor Center for the Innovative Technology Park exemplifies the aspirations of contemporary institutional architecture to embody the spirit of innovation through built form, presenting visitors with a structure that appears to defy conventional architectural gravity through its dramatically cantilevered and undulating roof plane. The design emerges from a tradition of parametric architecture that employs computational tools to generate complex geometries previously impossible to conceive or construct, situating itself within a lineage that includes landmark cultural and institutional buildings seeking to express forward-thinking values through architectural expression. The technical achievement evident in the seamless white cladding system that wraps the organic roof form demonstrates sophisticated fabrication and construction methodologies, while the extensive glazed facades below establish visual transparency that invites engagement and suggests organizational openness. The compositional strategy balances the dynamic sculptural gesture of the roof with the rational grid of the curtain wall system, creating a dialogue between expressive form and functional clarity that characterizes accomplished institutional design. The integration of landscape elements, particularly the flowering cherry trees that echo the building's curvilinear vocabulary and the carefully maintained lawns that establish a welcoming approach sequence, demonstrates thoughtful site planning that positions architecture within an experiential journey. The lighting captured in this twilight photograph reveals the building's dual nature as both daytime landmark and evening beacon, with interior illumination transforming the structure into a lantern that signifies activity, welcome, and the continuity of innovation beyond daylight hours. This visitor center functions as both practical orientation facility and symbolic gateway, its architecture communicating institutional values before any verbal or textual communication occurs. How might the experience of approaching this building at different times of day or seasons shape the visitor's perception of the innovation occurring within?
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.
- 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.
- 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.
- Image Credits
- Image#1: Arch-Exist
Image#2: Arch-Exist
Image#3: Arch-Exist
Image#4: Arch-Exist
Image#5: Yan Zheng
Colors of Qingdao Innovative Technology Park Visitor Center
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