Table of Contents Show
Greentown ThinkWorks is a 75859 m² industrial campus in Hangzhou, China, designed by LYCS Architecture with GLA Architects. It sits in the middle of Zijingang Science and Technology City and is built on a simple observation: as cities get denser and industry upgrades, factories have to start growing upward.
The architects did not want a single sealed box full of machinery. Their aim was a building that reads clearly, lets air and light through, and works for the people inside as well as for the equipment. Technology and planting were meant to share the site rather than compete for it.
Putting the services on show
Stacking research, development and production on top of one another creates a dense tangle of ducts, plant and exhaust. The usual answer is to hide all of it behind a heavy closed facade. Here the team went the other way and designed a modular curtain wall that carries the industrial equipment within its own system while still looking ordered. Making that work meant tuning the structural frame and the facade modules together so that the building stays efficient to run and tidy to look at.
A tower and a field of blocks
The plan combines a main tower 73.8 metres tall with a group of separate low and mid rise blocks. Terraces step down from the larger volumes, which breaks the scale into pieces closer to the surrounding streets and pulls daylight and ventilation into the depth of the site.
Stacking floors this way gives tenants a choice. Storeys come with different ceiling heights and floor loads, so a large production line and a small research lab can each find suitable space in the same complex. Movement is split by type: heavy goods vehicles are kept to one edge, while people on foot use planted lanes and courtyards between the buildings. For a smaller European take on combining work floors and production, see Production and Office Building Dubrovcan by MVA.
Aluminium, glass and bronze
The envelope relies on a small set of materials put together with care. Silver grey aluminium frames hold light grey glass, and touches of metallic bronze warm up what could otherwise be a cold industrial palette. A modular window wall system sets the rhythm, and slim metal tie rods run across it, making the structure legible on the outside.
The bronze is not just colour. Bronze grilles cover exhaust vents that can be opened, so the building’s breathing apparatus is built into the facade instead of bolted on afterwards. Our article on contemporary materials in architecture looks at how this kind of material choice shapes the reading of a building.
Stairs and gardens in the air
Stairs are pulled out to the exterior of several blocks, and roof gardens appear at a number of levels across the campus. Together they form a green layer that climbs through the complex and gives staff places to stop, step outside and see planting during a working day.
The result is a dense production workplace that also behaves like a park, with the tower, the terraces and the courtyards working as one system.
Leave a comment