Defined by a 550-foot-long continuous façade system that establishes visual continuity and guides pedestrians through the large site, the project balances urban connectivity and architectural efficiency within Hangzhou, China’s unique cultural and environmental context.
Delivering five office towers and a hotel on a 500,000-square-foot site, the development seeks to evolve away from Hangzhou’s car-centric urbanism and connect two of its important landmarks—West Lake and the Grand Canal, both UNESCO World Heritage Sites. “As part of the plan, the project needed to create an unprecedented urban façade strategy that would transform pedestrian connectivity across multiple city blocks and respond to varying urban forces,” said KPF Design Principal Jeff Kenoff FAIA. “We realized that the façade needed to be sinuous, yet human in scale, and looked to the ancient walls of the West Lake as a historic precedent for effective urban circulatory infrastructure.”
Referencing the traditional architecture of Hangzhou, the “Urban Cell Wall” is constructed using modular metal panels lined with colorfully glazed terra cotta sourced from the nearby city of Yixing, where pottery production dates back to the Song Dynasty. The composition of the façade modules reflects the masonry bond patterns present at the Lingyin Temple, a Buddhist monastery located on the outskirts of the city, while the proportions mimic the Duan Qin, or broken bridge, which spans the nearby West Lake in the city’s center. The design also draws on natural precedents such as the hexagonal prisms of a honeycomb or the cellular structure of xylem and phloem, the vascular tissue found in most plants.
The KPF design team used parametric and computational methods to simplify the construction of the modules by prescribing 21 unique permutations that include seven exterior metal profiles, five terra-cotta glazes, and four infill panel types. These combinations allow the modules to be optimized according to use, site conditions, and shading, improving the project’s energy performance along with its overall resiliency and adaptability.
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