e+lab's round exhibition center with 360° window in china offers urban panoramic view

located within the city of hangzhou, china, e+lab has designed an exhibition center with the name ‘the eye of intelligence valley’. it is a multi-functional public building for cultural display, investment attraction, office meetings, recreation etc. the design philosophy is influenced by the geometric relation between the ‘round sky’ and the ‘square earth’.

all images courtesy of schran image

‘the squareness, steadily gathering the boundary elements of the place, is the base of the earth; while the roundness stands for an abstract high-altitude vision‘ e+lab explains. the triangular cone, located in the center, gradually rises from the flat square and flows into a ramp. it motivates the weightlessness of roundness, lifts up the suspension of roundness, and conveys a poetic and geometric experience beyond space and time. 

the entrance on the ground floor is made through a large empty area with silver ripple-finished stainless steels paved on the top. in this way, the metal reflects the surrounding scenery and displays a natural trance to the main welcoming space. the first floor is used as the central exhibition hall, using a 360°screen, holographic projection and digital sand table, highlighting a modern experience formed by digital technology.

upon entering, visitors can see the core space of the building; a sculptural ramp rising above the ground, circling and floating inside both the actual and virtual space. it’s like a space-time tunnel, leading to the exhibition hall in the clouds. here, the 24-metre high, 360° window offers a panoramic view towards the construction of the entire surrouding valley. the building is wrapped up in white high-intensity composite aluminum plates, without redundant ornament. its futuristic form seems like a giant sci-fi existence coming from the universe into the modern city.

the core structure is leaning against a t-shaped cantilever, with the farthest straight-line distance between them being 28.3m. two annular trusses are constructed in the upper round-disk height and equipment-space width. a steel truss is placed between railings on both sides of the ramp, which is built into the groove-profile sections, with a slim steel rod falling down the upper structure and connecting with the right positions to decrease the span. considering the force imbalance caused by the deviation of  the upper core structure, balance has been achieved in selecting materials for the main structure. suspending round disks adopt light but high-intensity steel structure to lose weight as much as possible. 

the core structure is made of reinforced concrete and corner steel columns, providing reliable bending strength and balancing the weight of heavy bulkiness. BIM technology is fully adopted in the design. with the visual model, participants in various specialties can discuss on the design. through the model, most problems related to space design or piping crashes have been solved in the beginning. all rod pieces, joints, screw welding, concrete columns and beams are incorporated into the overall model by 3D entity modeling. all the dimensions in the drawings, including the length of rod pieces, the dimensions of sections, and the intersected angles of parts, are generated from 3D entity model. after that, factory will fabricate based on shop drawings.

project name: gongshu intelligence valley’s eye

architectural design: e+lab

chief designer: hu yijia

project team: zhou yuechen, chen yining, ye tong, lu xianhui, xie jie, yin yong

location: gongshu district, hangzhou

landscape design: the design institute of landscape & architecture china academy of art co.,ltd.

interior design: the design institute of landscape & architecture china academy of art co.,ltd.

curtain wall design: the design institute of landscape & architecture china academy of art co.,ltd.

steel structure design: the design institute of landscape & architecture china academy of art co.,ltd.

construction drawing design: the design institute of landscape & architecture china academy of art co.,ltd.

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edited by: myrto katsikopoulou | designboom