Greentown ThinkWorks
As vertical manufacturing emerges as an inevitable trend in industrial upgrading, the vertical stacking of R&D, experimentation, and production functions often entails an intricate web of mechanical and electrical (M&E) pipelines and rigorous exhaust purification demands.
Facing this systematic proposition, the Greentown ThinkWorks, located in the core area of Hangzhou Zijingang Science and Technology City, presents a more rational spatial solution. With architectural design led by LYCS Architecture through the Design Development (DD) phase—including design management and final quality control—and the Construction Documents (CD) phase completed by GLA Architects, the project avoids employing a closed skin to forcibly wrap this complex "machine." Instead, through the meticulous coordination of its structural skeleton and the control of modular curtain walls, the design transforms a high-density R&D and production complex into a logically coherent and breathable operational platform.
Vertical Reconstruction: Reshaping High-Density Urban Boundaries
If left untreated, a massive industrial volume directly intervening in the urban fabric can easily create a dull visual boundary. To buffer this impact, the design adopts stepped terracing responding to the site context between the 73.8-meter main tower and the multi-story standalone blocks to the west, executing a moderate subtractive carving. This massing shift not only constructs a soft transition between production spaces and the natural ecology but also channels light and airflow deep into the building. While maintaining the floor area ratio (FAR), it achieves a rational transition from the urban arterial road to the campus scale.
Wrapping this spatial skeleton is a highly integrated modular facade. Silver-gray aluminum frames and light-gray glass form homogeneous window units that systematically conceal mechanical and exhaust equipment behind them. Within the austere and rational facade grid, the interspersed external stairs and roof terraces are rendered in metallic bronze. Serving as visual anchors within the facade system, they inject a touch of everyday urban warmth into the industrial architecture.
Spatial Flexibility: A Highly Adaptable Productivity Framework
To meet the full-chain functional requirements of the tech industry—encompassing R&D, experimentation, testing, and production—the design constructs a spatially flexible and highly adaptable framework through a "vertical stacking" strategy. By implementing differentiated customizations in clear height, load-bearing capacity, and floor plans for the high-rise main tower and multi-story standalone blocks, the design achieves diverse operational modes.
The high-rise main tower features three standard floor heights of 7 meters, 5.5 meters, and 4.5 meters, with a maximum load-bearing capacity of up to 800 kg/㎡, meeting the vertical layout needs of large manufacturing enterprises. The 7-meter scale also imbues the ground floor space with a pavilion-like transparency and expansiveness. Within the 2,000 ㎡ standard floor of the main tower, the central core is centrally located, while 3-ton freight elevators—combined with loading docks offset to the west side—achieve "passenger-freight separation" from the core, ensuring efficient freight operations and pedestrian safety.
The standalone units focus on supporting small and medium-sized R&D enterprises in independently planning their production lines. They feature a ground-floor height of 6 meters and a load capacity of 1 ton/㎡, while floors two and above offer a height of 5.5 meters with load capacities ranging from 500 to 800 kg/㎡, leaving ample space for the installation of standard cleanroom equipment. Unlike the larger single-floor area of the main tower, each standalone unit has a single-floor area of approximately 700 ㎡. To ensure the absolute integrity of the production space, the service core and freight elevators are grouped and offset to one side of the building. Through independent courtyards equipped for each multi-story standalone block, a green and sustainable metabolic closed-loop of "production-transportation-recycling" is constructed both inside and outside the building.
Thanks to the highly rational division of circulation, dual circulation systems prioritizing safety and efficiency are established within the park. Heavy trucks enter from the west entrance, circulate clockwise to dedicated loading bays for efficient handling, and exit from the north exit; meanwhile, pedestrians stroll leisurely through the landscaped pedestrian zones on the east side and within the inner courtyard. Industrial operation efficiency and a tranquil human-centric experience achieve a balanced symbiosis within the park.
Visual Framework: Precise Translation of Facade Order
Rejecting mediocre decorative collage, the design instead employs a high-tech visual vocabulary to reshape the urban interface. Rather than crudely exposing the true structural skeleton, the facade systematically conceals it based on the logic of bone-and-skin separation, reconstructing a more modular and controlled tectonic expression upon the building envelope. The overall curtain wall interlocks gray aluminum panels, metallic bronze grilles, and light-gray tempered glass, creating a restrained and steady industrial undertone.
Based on the logic of modern industrial production, the glass curtain wall is precisely segmented by silver-gray aluminum frames to form highly homogeneous window units. The modular window-wall system, paired with structurally expressive metal tie rods, establishes a precise industrial order on the facade. It is precisely this lightweight and restrained curtain wall modulus that visually frees the facade from the constraints of gravity; meanwhile, the delicate expression of tectonic joints and material intersections dispels the visual oppressiveness brought by the building volume.
In response to the exhaust and ventilation demands of industrial park production and research, a silent aerodynamic network operates beneath the conventional physical shell. Airflows generated by testing are purified within the central hub of the central core, after which compliant gases are transported along concealed pipelines to the building's edge. The metallic bronze grilles are not
merely decorative but serve as the foundational framework for hidden operable exhaust vents, all of which are tightly locked into the curtain wall's unified standard modular system. Through the precise calculation of the gaps in the external facade grilles, the otherwise unavoidable terminal equipment and unitized curtain walls achieve a seamless physical interlock.
This means that exhaust pipelines and functional air vents are systematically integrated and completely dissolved into the continuous facade texture. Through this internal invisible logic of the structure, the design eliminates the visual intrusion of industrial equipment, enabling the building to maintain a restrained and continuous rational order while facilitating continuous air exchange.
In the evolution of the spatial plan, the design re-examines the logic of vertical circulation. While maintaining the operation of the original stairs within the central core, an additional evacuation staircase is externalized onto the building's facade.
This gesture reconstructs a publicly accessible architectural promenade on the exterior of the building. Suspended along the facade structure and discarding heavy solid enclosures, the external stairs expose the steel structure directly onto the precise architectural exterior. The building's skin and bones are clearly separated, creating a strong tectonic tension through the contrast between structural rawness and systematic precision.
As the external stairs ascend along the building skin, they intertwine with the cantilevered platforms on each floor. By breaking the physical boundaries between interior and exterior, this design achieves a fusion of human and nature from a behavioral perspective. Here, space adopts a pragmatic posture, providing individuals immersed in high-density working environments with a micro-regulatory medium to step indoors and outdoors at any time, filtering light and air. Through vertical transit and lingering,users are able to engage more authentically with the outdoors, where the connection between humans and the environment takes place.
Technological Temperature: A Flexibly Interwoven Three-Dimensional Oasis
The main tower and standalone blocks enclose a multi-level central park featuring a sunken courtyard. It provides not only public and commercial amenities but also acts as a green engine implanted at the core of this massive machine.
The staggered roof gardens atop the main tower offer expansive urban views: close views overlook the lush greenery of Xixi Wetland, while distant views capture the undulating contours of the West Lake mountains. From high altitude to the ground level, roof gardens, standalone terraces, central green spaces, and sunken courtyards construct a multi-level landscape network within the architectural interstices, transforming into a soft catalyst at the park's boundary that organically establishes an ecological linkage with the city.
In the massing evolution of the main tower, the design introduced a layer-by-layer staggered spatial system. Through roof terracing and entrance cantilevers, the building actively "pulls" the central atrium landscape inward, allowing natural greenery to permeate the daily office routine of every floor in the vertical dimension. This foundational strategy of capturing nature "inward" forms an isomorphic and interlocking relationship between nature and architecture within the park.
The main entrance canopy is anchored within a modular grid highly unified with the entire park. Its load-bearing members extend along the optimal load paths, resembling a skeleton that organically grows within the site, governed by natural laws.
The multi-level oasis is not merely a visual extension but also an ecological breathing space amidst high-intensity R&D. When researchers step away from highly controlled laboratories into this space, resting and interacting amidst growing greenery and dappled light, the intense work pressure is gently dissolved, awakening accessible moments of everyday joy.
Conclusion
The Greentown ThinkWorks is not only an efficient production vessel meeting the manufacturing and R&D needs of high-tech enterprises, but also a profound response to the future paradigm of industrial architecture in the context of a high-density city. Through precise tectonic logic and craftsmanship, the design naturally integrates multi-dimensional landscape networks, transforming the vertical factory from a single functional venue into an ecological industrial park filled with lightness, joy, and human-centricity.
In the symbiosis between natural ecology and cutting-edge technology, the project not only empowers next-generation productivity to flourish toward higher dimensions but also provides a compelling precedent for intensive land use and human-centric space creation during contemporary industrial upgrading.
CREDITS
Architectural Design: LYCS Architecture
Design team: RUAN Hao, ZHAN Yuan ,ZHAO Lin, ZHANG Yunyi, DUAN Qin, YUAN Ran, ZHANG Jingyi
Local Design Institute: GLA Architects
Design team: SONG Ping; WANG Yuan, JIN Zhangjiang, SHEN Xiaofeng (Architecture); WANG Hongtao (Structure); FAN Chenhui, CHEN Lihong, LI Chunjiao (MEP)
