The 387,500-sf Yangtze River International Conference Center has recently completed and opened in China’s Nanjing Jiangbei New District. The project is situated at a key juncture between China's eastern coastal cities and the Yangtze River Delta region.
The conference space is attached to a tower with a four-star hotel featuring 340 rooms that offer scenic views of the Yangtze River. The flowing curves of the Yangtze River are reflected in the building’s undulating podium while the titanium roof paneling evokes sunlight playing on the water’s surface. Rising above the podium, the shear, broad angles of the hotel tower evoke the sail of a junk, the traditional wind-powered river boat once common on the Yangtze.
In the building’s podium, the large program areas of the convention center contains a series of flexible conference spaces bisected by a central 200-meter arcade, dividing the building into a north and south wing. The arcade serves as the primary circulation spine for the building, intersected by short, perpendicular bridges providing access from VIP entrances and the hotel tower. The convention center’s entrance and atrium is illuminated by a skylight, highlighting the hotel tower.
Located between the river and the city, the site’s boundaries shape the conference center’s wavelike forms and urban character. On the city side, to the north, the hotel tower’s facade utilizes a metal brise-soleil system. During the day, the metal façade serves to shade the building and increase energy efficiency. In the evening, lighting integrated in the façade creates a distinctive night-time presence within the city.
On the southern river side, the sinuous quality of facade mirrors the organic nature of the river’s edge, with a rippling metal and glass brise-soleil comprised of over 90,000 distinct metallic panels. The landscape is designed following a "sponge landscape" principle, strengthening ecological infrastructure by aiding in responsible management of runoff especially important to the riverside site. The high-performance facades and environmentally conscious landscape design contribute to the building's "3-Star rating," the highest sustainable design grade recognized by China's national green building standard.
Related Stories
| Oct 20, 2011
UNT receives nation’s first LEED Platinum designation for collegiate stadium
Apogee Stadium will achieve another first in December with the completion of three wind turbines that will feed the electrical grid that powers the stadium.
| Oct 20, 2011
Johnson Controls appoints Wojciechowski to lead real estate and facilities management business for Global Technology sector
Wojciechowski will be responsible for leading the continued growth of the technology vertical market, while building on the expertise the company has developed serving multinational technology companies.
| Sep 12, 2011
First phase of plan to revitalize Florida's Hialeah Park announced
This is the first project of a master plan developed to revive the historic racetrack.
| May 18, 2011
Improvements add to Detroit convention center’s appeal
Interior and exterior renovations and updates will make the Detroit Cobo Center more appealing to conventioneers. A new 40,000-sf ballroom will take advantage of the center’s riverfront location, with views of the river and downtown.
| May 18, 2011
Carnegie Hall vaults into the 21st century with a $200 million renovation
Historic Carnegie Hall in New York City is in the midst of a major $200 million renovation that will bring the building up to contemporary standards, increase educational and backstage space, and target LEED Silver.
| Apr 13, 2011
Southern Illinois park pavilion earns LEED Platinum
Erin’s Pavilion, a welcome and visitors center at the 80-acre Edwin Watts Southwind Park in Springfield, Ill., earned LEED Platinum. The new 16,000-sf facility, a joint project between local firm Walton and Associates Architects and the sustainability consulting firm Vertegy, based in St. Louis, serves as a community center and special needs education center, and is named for Erin Elzea, who struggled with disabilities during her life.
| Apr 11, 2011
Wind turbines to generate power for new UNT football stadium
The University of North Texas has received a $2 million grant from the State Energy Conservation Office to install three wind turbines that will feed the electrical grid and provide power to UNT’s new football stadium.
| Mar 25, 2011
Qatar World Cup may feature carbon-fiber ‘clouds’
Engineers at Qatar University’s Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering are busy developing what they believe could act as artificial “clouds,” man-made saucer-type structures suspended over a given soccer stadium, working to shield tens of thousands of spectators from suffocating summer temperatures that regularly top 115 degrees Fahrenheit.
| Mar 11, 2011
Historic McKim Mead White facility restored at Columbia University
Faculty House, a 1923 McKim Mead White building on Columbia University’s East Campus, could no longer support the school’s needs, so the historic 38,000-sf building was transformed into a modern faculty dining room, graduate student meeting center, and event space for visiting lecturers, large banquets, and alumni organizations.
| Feb 23, 2011
London 2012: What Olympic Park looks like today
London 2012 released a series of aerial images that show progress at Olympic Park, including a completed roof on the stadium (where seats are already installed), tile work at the aquatic centre, and structural work complete on more than a quarter of residential projects at Olympic Village.