Rolling Hillscape
"Rolling Hillscape" Quzhou Smart Town Digital Economy Industrial Park, designed by LYCS Architecture, has been officially completed. The design "Gently Places the Building into Nature," echoes the distant mountains that surround the city.
The project is located in the core area of the Quzhou High-speed Rail New City, with a total construction area of 96,172.11 square meters. It is a digital complex comprising three main functions: the Smart Service Center, the Technology Incubation Center, and the Urban Exhibition Hall.
Quzhou, known as the "Land of Mountains and Waters and the Land of Humanity," is located in the western part of Zhejiang Province and is the birthplace of the Qiantang River. Since it was established as a prefecture during the Eastern Han Dynasty, numerous literati and poets have praised its majestic, beautiful mountains and tranquil, clear rivers.
The architectural form is based on the capital city described in the
The undulating roofline harmonizes the buildings into a continuous mountain-like formation. The architecture appears delicately placed within nature, echoing the distant mountains surrounding the city.
In addition to portraying the grandeur of the mountain range, the facades of the main building and podium are adorned with delicate white lines, symbolizing distant mountains and flowing water. Light, shadow, and the contrast between black and white strokes compose a majestic landscape painting.
The indigo-blue roofs cover the buildings underneath, rising and falling harmoniously. The intricately arranged architectural silhouettes along the main road seamlessly merge with the city skyline, forming a cultural emblem of a mountainous city.
The sloping roofs draw inspiration from traditional Chinese motifs, yet the design diverges from traditional eaves by subtly receding them, enhancing the three-dimensional prominence of the architectural masses. This delicate balance between tradition and modernity is achieved.
The innovative use of curved tiles for edge trimming at the eaves cleverly resolves the structural thickness of the large-span roof, making the double-eaved overlapping roof visually lighter.
The main building gradually narrows from bottom to top, with white vertical lines arranged organically in continuous curves, enriching the skyline of the indigo-blue mountains like distant peaks. The subtle beauty of classical architecture is reinterpreted under modern architectural materials, presenting a unique flavor.
The gentle curves flow from the tower to the podium. The white aluminum strips arranged in intervals form the second curve beneath the mountains, creating an intriguing variation.
The podium facade comprises white vertical elements, beige stone, and wave-shaped perforated panels arranged in intervals. These impart a sense of variation between solidity and transparency to the unfurling scroll, transforming the huge scroll into a more intimate scale.
The offset of building masses encloses three central courtyards, providing ample natural lighting and ventilation for each functional area, creating a lightweight and breathable settlement form. Based on the urban image of Quzhou as the "Southern Confucian Shrine, City of Courtesy," the design team proposed three themed courtyards inspired by the concepts of "Books," "Wood," and "Water," incorporating skywalks and echoing the sloping roofs to create multidimensional views. This design creates a splendid internal space and external courtyard that is both separate and connected, reminiscent of a garden.
To showcase Quzhou's 1,800-year-old historical and cultural heritage, the Books Garden is laid out in a chessboard pattern with scattered Go benches. Bamboo and pine trees are sporadically interspersed, adding a touch of ancient charm to the courtyard space.
The Wood Garden is located at the heart of the entire building, with radial pathways providing convenient access. Wooden window frames complement wooden posts and lawns, adding a natural ambiance to the architecture.
In the Water Garden, two dynamic and serene ponds complement each other as a scenic backdrop. Traditional and modern elements, movement, and tranquility coexist harmoniously, creating a delightful juxtaposition.
"Rolling Hillscape" reinterprets the traditional architectural forms of Jiang Nan using lightweight and transparent modern materials, seamlessly integrating the large-scale public complex into the urban fabric. Its completion provides corresponding urban administrative services for the construction of Quzhou's Smart New City and serves as a landmark building that revitalizes the city's image. It is another cornerstone in Quzhou's journey towards becoming an "International Garden City.”
