LANDSEA R&D TRAINING CENTER

The R&D Training Center is part of the early developing phase of Landsea Changxing Base, along the coast of West Taihu Lake, in Zhejiang province. The center is dedicated to research and development of Green Building Technologies and it will be the training ground for expert personnel in the industry,  exhibition and experience center. The building is also platform for the cooperation between Landsea and global experts and organizations in the Green Building field.

Being the the first building of the new master plan to be realized, the R&D Center is required to become an iconic landmark building for the area and to set high standards in terms of quality for the the future development. The building has good accessibility from the public roads and represents the first introduction to the Changxing development for the visitors.

The building stands out for its simple but iconic shape: two volumes are stacked on top of each other and shifted in order to create a generous cantilever towards the main entrance to the South. The tension between the volumes is enhanced by the different materials in use. The two-storeys high podium has a more solid and firm character due to the elegant stone cladding and regular openings on the facade. The stability of the base drives the focus to the lightness of the volume on top, seemingly “fluctuating” above the entrance thanks to its large cantilever and perforated facade.

The building is designed to allow staff to follow their working schedule without disturbing each other. Privacy while working is provided in most areas, while certain facilities give insights for the VIP visitors, if their respective functions are not confidential but contribute to the visitors education or information. While the visitors follow their own routing systems the laboratories and their restricted offices are internally connected and strategically located to avoid conflict. Vehicle traffic and pedestrian paths are always separated to guarantee everyone’s safety.

The interior layout creates a perfect environment to conduct study and research while having the possibility of outsiders visits. The atrium in the center of the building covers both the functions of vertical connection for the whole building and exhibition space.

The skylights above bring indirect natural light in the stairwell which results very bright throughout the day. The atrium also works as a natural ventilation chimney, allowing the cool air that enters from the ground floor to circulate upwards through the openings on the top.

The perforated facade is composed by composite aluminum panels characterized by a special chromatic finish that creates an ever changing color effect, varying its hues from pink to gold. The perforation of the operable panels gives flexibility to the facade that can be controlled by the users and their requirements concerning views and shading.

The pattern that generates the perforation on the facade is a schematic representation of the color shades of a cloud. The panels are modular and the perforation is designed to minimize the joints. The only openings visible on the perforated volume, are several square windows grouped as a cloud and located in the North side of the building.

Green building standards reached with the design are: Green Building Evaluation Standard three-star certification (China); LEED Gold or BREEAM Excellent-level certification.