The Connector of Urban Space:
Nanjing Biotech and Pharmaceutical Valley Connection and Reserch Complex

Gang Wang

BACKGROUND

Nanjing Jiangbei New District Exhibition and R&D Complex is located at the foot of Mountain Longwang in Nanjing Medical Valley Park. The site is triangular — the south side is adjacent to the planned civic plaza,which will be a public place for activities of the entire Medical Valley Park and around pharmaceutical companies in the future, the east side is the Mountain Longwang. It is a small mountain with only about 120 meters high, but the whole mountain form is quite stretched, and it is integrated with the landscape lake at the foot of the mountain, becoming the most important natural open space of the entire Medical Valley Park. The northwestern side of the site is other office buildings of the Medical Valley Park. Those buildings are relatively dense and compact. In summary, this small triangular site is surrounded by city square,natural scene, and the office buildings — completely three different styles of urban spaces at the three edges of the site.  This attribute also determines the design approach via which architecture talks to the city and nature with different gestures.

"CONNECTOR" FOR URBANSPACE

These different narratives of the building itself, placed in the context of the entire city, will play a role in the transformation and integration of various urban spaces. This design defines the Nanjing Jiangbei New District Exhibition and R&D Complex as the“connector” between the various urban spaces in the Medical Valley, and serves as the starting point for the entire design.

The “connection” between the building and the southern civic square is a direct dialogue between the city's public space and architecture. How can the architecture effectively display its interface to the civic square, and how to guide the crowds gathered in the civic square to the exhibition center?  Here we introduced a large-scale structure to form a magnificent urban-scale covered open space. By this means the south side of the building becomes formal and iconic. With this transitional space added between the city square and the pre-function space of the exhibition center, the architecture is getting more layering of the indoor and outdoor space, and through its oversized cantilever, combined with the graceful structural support system, a soft, intimate as well as powerful structure make a very strong sense of place, the distinctive contrast between masculinity and femininity is formed, which expresses its complexity and initiates curiosity

The “connection” between the building and the natural landscape of the Mountain Longwang in the east is different from the strong “connection” on the south side. It is more gentle and psychological. The design layouts the exhibition hall on the east side,and forms a reverse curve of the roof to echo the Mountain Longwang’s stretched skyline. The whole picture of the Mountain Longwang is introduced into the entire exhibition hall through the large glazing facade. The inverse curve of the ceiling also constitutes the frame effect. It outlines a beautiful landscape painting that changes with the seasons, weather, time and light. The ingenious dialogue between architecture and nature is subtle and poetic.

The northwest side of the triangular site is located with office tower and service circulation required for exhibitions and offices. Because this side is long and service oriented,the design breaks down the volume, which not only reduces the building scale,but also coordinates with other office buildings on the opposite side of the site. At the same time it creates a strong sense of rhythm. The overall form of the tower is simple with the west side is slightly deformed which creates a beautiful arc on the facade. It also echoes the arc of the southern giant cover and the reversed curve roof of the exhibition center.

In the interior design of the building, the pre-function hall of the exhibition center is placed on the south side, facing the civic square,ensuring its publicity and communication needs, and it is also  connected with the entrance lobby of the office tower. A curved wall is designed to differentiate the  entrance lobby and the pre-function space, as well as a mezzanine is implanted at the west end, to make this long space an appropriate scale and complexity. A small courtyard is arranged between the  tower, the pre-function space and the conference hall, which can introduce more natural light into both lobbies and makes the space harmonious and comfortable, and more vivid with the light changing through the day. The small courtyard also becomes an outdoor leisure place for staff and visitors, to get a break from work or exhibition.

2018/11/21