The new official website of LYCS Architecture was recently launched, and many friends are very interested in the "mysterious" buildings that constantly rotate in the open-screen animation.
This building with a red and eye-catching "mermaid line" is a work that LYCS Architecture has polished for five years—Jingu Center, named "Auto Superman." The completion of the Jingu Center is imminent, and we plan to use this article to learn about the inspirational transformation story behind Auto Superman.
Auto Superman - Jingu Center is located in the core of Yinhu Science and Technology New City, Fuyang District, Hangzhou, with a total construction area of 93,430㎡. The site is an irregular triangular plot, and landscapes surround the project: the south side is adjacent to the Fuchun Park of China's Intelligence Valley, the west side is a commercial water street under planning, and the north side is the beautiful Yinhu Park, from which the water system of Yinhu Lake flows through.
In the face of such favorable geographical conditions and excellent scenic resources, the owner proposed to us a "modest" goal for the new headquarters:
Jinguu Center will become a landmark building of Silver Lake Science and Technology City!
"The self-mastery of landmark."
Dealing with owner-occupied and for-sale offices is a common theme in headquarters design. Arranging both in the same main building: the lower floors for sale and the upper floors with better views for self-use is a common practice of vertical zoning. However, the standard floor area of the main building of this project is more than 2,000 square meters, which could be more friendly to SME clients.
After thorough consideration, the designers proposed a layout plan split into a main building for self-use and a podium for sale in multiple parcels according to the functional needs of a self-holding office, office for sale, commercial, cafeteria, and reporting hall. The main building and the podium are arranged facing the park from south to north, from high to low, to maximize the use of landscape resources. The advantage of this is that the self-use and for-sale offices are managed separately without interfering with each other, and the for-sale offices enjoy independent landscapes and entrances.
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The main building (office for client use) is placed on the south side of the site, adjacent to the road intersection, to maximize the strengthening of the building's significance and, at the same time, to ensure that the high-rise open landscape view; the podium (office for sale) is placed on the park side with a decreasing trend of the number of floors from east to west, to meet the good sunlight and lighting and to ensure that its openness to the surrounding environment and the affinity.
The planning layout is completed, and the designer begins to model the main building using a variety of "cool" fantasies. However, the height limit of 80 meters of building control indicators can only make it a 50 × 50 × 80 meters building volume. "Big" designers have made it difficult for the "fat" of Auto Superman to become a landmark-level building.
Brain-sore designers met overnight to discuss the matter and finally devised an excellent strategy - lose weight! Shape up!
First of all, the 50x50m square main building is sculpted into an octagonal shape, and at the same time, the form below is cut down and inward, and the original "dull" side is adjusted into a streamlined shape with smooth turns and tightening, which is called "weight loss."
The octagonal main building, carefully sculpted by the designers, is not only visually taller and slimmer but also much more practical. The rich facade orientation not only provides a broad view of the landscape but also facilitates natural lighting and ventilation, enhancing the comfort and health of the office environment.
The client, Zhejiang Jingu Group, is a leading supplier to domestic automobile manufacturers and is mainly engaged in the research, development, manufacturing, and sales of automobile steel wheels exported to the United States, Canada, South America, and other countries and regions. The design team was inspired by the automobile waistline, which was integrated into the "molding" transformation of the main building.
The corners of the main building are cut and split into concave and convex cascading pieces, and its outer edges are given a sharp and dynamic folded corner shape, supplemented by pioneering and enthusiastic red and silver color contrast. At a glance, the building is magnificent and upright without losing the sense of agility and lightness, bringing a strong visual impact.
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The sharp and dynamic side edges serve as a stylistic feature and a hidden "powerhouse." Ventilation, exhaust ducts, and equipment rooms are cleverly arranged to combine practical function with aesthetic styling.
Infectious silver and red streamlines flow regularly towards the west side of the site, wrapping evenly around the top and sides of the roadside retail podium. The unified language of the façade and the connecting corridors connect the two sides and consciously guide the pedestrian flow, creating a stopping cityscape next to the main road.
"Superman is born."
"Shape" successful Auto Superman is handsome; the owners unanimously recognized the "broad shoulders and narrow waist" of the main building shape. However, the structural and curtain wall designers had a big "headache." How to make the "Auto Superman" secure landing has become a common "bald" problem.
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The main building's "broad shoulders and narrow waist" shape causes the longest force arm of the floor picket beam to reach 10 meters. The "mermaid line" also requires hanging large and dense heavy honeycomb aluminum panels and steel frames on the overhangs, which is undoubtedly a difficult test of the structural columns' load-bearing capacity.
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At the same time, the consultant for the construction program pointed out that the original program had a high density of vertical decorative lines on the sides and a narrow construction surface, which made it difficult to set up scaffolding and made it easy for the construction workers to "hit the wall" (in the physical sense), thus preventing them from carrying out the normal hanging and installation.
The designers then met again overnight to discuss and revise the design of the main building façade.
First, we adjusted and reduced the overall shape and scale of the side edge of the main building by shortening the length of the cantilever arm from 10 meters to 6 meters in the original proposal.
Then, the density of vertical lines is re-measured and modified, and the corners of the outer frame are also chamfered. Corner folds are weakened accordingly to ensure that the design language is not affected and reduce the load-bearing pressure on the structural columns and overhangs.
The optimization and adjustment of the façade design greatly reduced the difficulty of structural construction, and the curtain wall and installation problems were solved. However, the merit of detail adjustment determines the success or failure of the curved shape.
In the case of the Superman project, the iconic "mermaid line" was the top priority for optimization. In the process of deepening the design, the designers disagreed on the slitting method of the aluminum panels: 2m×4m aluminum panels were too large, which had a better visual effect, but it was difficult to guarantee the flatness of the façade; 2m×2m aluminum panels could better guarantee the flatness of the façade, but it would impact the integrity of the project.
In the tripartite communication and negotiation with the owner and the curtain wall unit, the owner agreed to upgrade the original material aluminum veneer to a honeycomb aluminum panel with a stable surface color, not easy to accumulate dust, straight folded edges, and higher strength. The upgrading of the building materials also upgraded the construction method of the curtain wall, allowing the use of more complex construction techniques. The degree of refinement of the curtain wall significantly increased.
The "mermaid line" streamlined line also has some visual illusion problems when it meets the four main elevations. The aluminum panels at the edge of the elevation intersect with the opening fan, which will become "thicker." The designer reduced the width of the aluminum panels at the edge and increased the width of the glass connected to the edge. Although there are two glass sizes, the visual comfort is UP, UP, and UP.
In addition to the main building, the streamlined shape has many unexpected handover problems; for example, there is a height difference within the site from south to north, and there is also a slight error in the height of the single building between the floors during the construction process, which results in the corridor between the main building and the podium not being able to connect horizontally.
The designer discovered this problem during the site visit and worked with the builder to reprocess the aluminum panel connections at the corners based on the status quo.
Peroration
Arriving at Silver Lake Science and Technology City from the main city of Hangzhou and driving out of the Yunchuang Tunnel, a modern, energetic, and pioneering building can be seen from afar at the end of the road. The silver-white border with a strong sense of technology is divided by layers of vivid and dynamic red streamlines, and the light and transparent glass curtain wall reflects the blue color of the distant sky. The eye-catching automobile superhero mirrors the surrounding environment, presenting an open, welcoming gesture that naturally blends into the texture of the urban space.
In the process of growing up as an "Auto Superman," we have encountered many practical difficulties and challenges. We are grateful for the owners' trust and support, the collaborating units' solid professional ability, and the full enthusiasm of LYCSer for work. Together, we have finally made the dawn of the perfect completion of "Auto Superman" appear. We are full of anticipation!
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