Location: Shanghai, China

Client: Shanghai Pudong Kangqiao(Group)Co.,Ltd.

Gross Floor Area: 76,782 sq m

Type: Office & Headquarters, Research & Development

Architect: EID Architecture

Design Principal: Ping Jiang, FAIA

Design Team: Michelle Bao ,Sean Lu, Jinjing Yu, Hong Li, Ji Huang,  Shuting Yang, Hongyi Zhuang, Cheyinzi Jiang, Yixuan Cheng, Jinge Ma, Kailin Sun

Phase I of Cambridge Robotics Valley (hereinafter as “CRV”) is located in Cambridge Industrial Campus, the core sector of Zhangjiang Science City, Shanghai. With a site area of 26,241 square meters, the project aims to create a research, development and manufacturing center upon the robotics engineering and artificial intelligence industries. Different from traditional suburban industrial parks, CRV strives to create a coherent and cohesive space carrier for cutting-edge technology corporations, providing diversified service scenarios, so as to maximize the vigorous and creative park atmosphere.

A Green Smart Valley with pleasant scales in nature

CRV integrates corporate R&D offices and headquarters, robotic laboratories, production workshops, conference and exhibition centers, supporting services and other functions into one to meet diverse functional needs in a limited space while maximizing the creation of outdoor public spaces. In order to change the cliché of the conflict and incompatibility between industry and nature, and to blur the boundaries between manual architecture and natural landscape, the CRV design concept simulates a green valley and extends the freely undulating landscape in the site, making the building subtly fall on the rich layers of greenery. The idea enables the architecture grow freely within the landscape, and combines the two parts into one organic garden amid the valley.

The design moves each building block outwards till the site edges and forms a sunken green valley enclosing the center, so as to make it a vivid visual focusing point at the park square. Each building in the park is independent and mutually infiltrated in the meantime, connected underground through the green valley, furthermore becomes a node for internal communications and a flexible space for interactive experience. Greenery grows in the building and extends through the atrium to the roof then forms an outdoor garden to attract visitors to linger and relax. The high-rise R&D building and multi-storey small detached buildings are arranged around the central green valley and adjacent to Zhou-Deng Highway. As the main display area of the project, the buildings seem to emerge from the green carpet, dissolving the large volume and at the same time, they echo the concept of undulating green valley to the utmost. The green smart ecological park not only blurs the boundary between the industrial park and the natural landscape, but also reshapes the relationship between people and nature, people and industry, and people with each other in the park.

The Efficient innovative office campus

The high-rise R&D building is the iconic landscape tower of the campus. Its huge hollow cavity extends from the lobby on the bottom floor up to the roof garden, then runs through the entire building. While introducing fluidity, natural ventilation and lighting, it also penetrates some natural and organic elements into the rational and regular office. The main body of the cavity extends to the building surface through the two auxiliary cavities and forms two landscape spaces, allowing the outdoor natural landscape to spread inside the building, which greatly enriches the spatial experience of the building and strengthens the visual impact. In order to weaken the volume of the single building on the west side and to create a light subtle feeling, the design optimizes its core structure, and allows the natural organic bottom shape to connect to the upper body, as if suspended above the greenery, outlining the continuous undulating facade along the street.

The design fully combines the diverse spatial scales and landscape environment in the park to create a coherent and unique architectural experience. Different from the modern and avant-garde style of R&D buildings, the campus design condenses the site memories and presents the typical architectural features of contemporary industry-concise but efficient to meet the needs of technology and economic benefits. The undulating roof shape is an abstract expression of the concept of the valley. At the same time, the design makes full use of natural light to create a comfortable and pleasant light environment for the workshop space, which becomes a place to stimulate innovation and technology.