China Mobile Ltd. selected international architecture, planning, engineering, interior design and program management firm LEO A DALY to design three buildings at its new international headquarters campus in Beijing.
In partnership with Local Design Institute WDCE, LEO A DALY won a competition to design Phase 2, Plot B, of the campus. The new international headquarters, which will be built in several phases in an area of 1.3 million square meters, consists of a campus of 26 specialized buildings to accommodate a variety of functions, including information collection, research and innovation, information services, international cooperation and exchange and display functions.
Phase 2, Plot B, of the campus, which totals 148,000 square meters near a green park space, consists of two research and development office and laboratory buildings, and a public facility building. As lead designer, LEO A DALY is providing the exterior design for the three buildings, interior design for the buildings’ major public spaces and landscape architecture while WDCE is providing interior design services for the rest of the spaces as well as all engineering work.
LEO A DALY’s design for the research and development office and laboratory buildings, each a five- and nine-story facility, are organized on an east-west pedestrian axis and mirrored in their massing to establish opposite, formal entries linked to internal courtyards at the ground level.
Each sculpted block features facades that convey the dynamic activity within by way of large, diagonal windows. The windows reveal perimeter stairs, which act as impromptu gathering steps with excellent views to the landscape. Central to LEO A DALY’s design concept is taking conventional, internal stairways typically found in research buildings’ central core zones and placing them on the perimeter in which employee brain storming activities may freely flow. This design approach of providing informal interacting zones is currently adopted by leading global research and technology firms whose goal is to support new work lifestyles preferred by younger generations.
The buildings feature fenestration that shades the external glass skin with copper-colored brise-soleil, graduated in color from dark at the bottom to light at the top, to visually ease the building’s mass and suggest an organic quality which links the building to the site. The two buildings are being designed with emphasis on reducing ecological and energy consumption impact. The buildings’ roofs provide sustainable landscape areas and are planted with grasses, annual and perennial materials and include some man-made materials (such as colorful rubber-based walking surfaces). The landscape for both perimeters and courtyards feature sculptural earth forms, fountains, pools, terraces and gardens.
A third, public facilities building is placed adjacent to the research and laboratory buildings in the campus’s central park and signature waterway. Within this building, recreation, food and beverage, light retail and central campus meeting facilities provide a multilevel, public place for both employees and China Mobile visitors. Its architecture is differentiated from the adjacent buildings by the portrayal of careful massing and purposeful sculpting of form, reinforced by diagonal fins which artfully echo the treatment of its neighbors. The cladding, materials and roofing of the facility incorporate a number of sustainable features, and are designed to meet Three Star Green Building standards (equivalent to LEED Platinum criteria), the highest rating for sustainable buildings in China. BD+C
Related Stories
| Apr 25, 2013
SmithGroupJJR hires Lise Newman as Workplace Studio Leader in Detroit
SmithGroupJJR, one of the nation's largest architecture, engineering and planning firms, has hired architect Lise Newman, AIA, as Workplace Studio leader at its Detroit, Mich. office.
| Apr 25, 2013
Colorado State University, DLR Group team to study 12 high-performance schools
DLR Group and the Institute for the Built Environment at Colorado State University have collaborated on a research project to evaluate the effect of green school design on occupants and long-term building performance.
| Apr 24, 2013
More positive momentum for Architecture Billings Index
All regions and building sectors continue to report positive business conditions
| Apr 24, 2013
North Carolina bill would ban green rating systems that put state lumber industry at disadvantage
North Carolina lawmakers have introduced state legislation that would restrict the use of national green building rating programs, including LEED, on public projects.
| Apr 24, 2013
Los Angeles may add cool roofs to its building code
Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa wants cool roofs added to the city’s building code. He is also asking the Department of Water and Power (LADWP) to create incentives that make it financially attractive for homeowners to install cool roofs.
| Apr 23, 2013
Building material innovation: Concrete cloth simplifies difficult pours
Milliken recently debuted a flexible fabric that allows for concrete installations on slopes, in water, and in other hard to reach places—without the need for molds or mixing.
| Apr 23, 2013
Architects to MoMA: Don't destroy Williams/Tsien project
Richard Meier, Thom Mayne, Steven Holl, Hugh Hardy and Robert A.M. Stern are among the prominent architects who on Monday called for the Museum of Modern Art to reconsider its decision to demolish the former home of the American Folk Art Museum.
| Apr 22, 2013
Top 10 green building projects for 2013 [slideshow]
The AIA's Committee on the Environment selected its top ten examples of sustainable architecture and green design solutions that protect and enhance the environment.
| Apr 19, 2013
Is LED lighting keeping its promises?
Lighting experts debate the benefits, drawbacks, and issues related to specifying LED fixtures.