a textured ceramic skin clads playze + schmidhuber's exhibition center in china

in 2014 we shared images of the ‘ningbo urban planning exhibition center’ designed by the two practices playze and schmidhuber, and eight years later the construction has been completed and the center opened to the public. located in the heart of the newly built ‘ningbo eastern new town’ adjacent to the city hall and the civic square, the building is more than just a simple presentation space. the goal was to create an engaging, accessible public place in the new chinese district, thereby establishing a dialogue between citizens and decision-makers.

the building’s textured glazed ceramics create ephemeral reflections of surrounding landscape

all images © creatAR images

to emphasize the role of the center as a public venue, it has been developed by playze & schmidhuber as a continuation of the surrounding waterfront landscape and is therefore an integral part of the public park. connecting pathways, bridges and streets have been woven into a topography leading to the many entrances of the building, blurring the boundary between the park and the new intervention.

connecting pathways, bridges and streets have been woven into a topography leading to the many entrances of the building

the city of ningbo has a rich history in ceramic production, it was here that the so-called ceramic road began. the city played an important role in the national and international trade of ceramics throughout the civilization’s history. that said, the use of glazed ceramics is not simply an homage to the local traditions of ningbo; the building’s textured glazed ceramics also create ephemeral reflections of surrounding landscape. these reflections animate the façade with varying intensity depending on time of day, season, and weather.

in order to cope with the complexity of the spatial allocation, a tailor-made computer script had to be coded

the exhibition halls are mainly allocated on the third and fourth floors of the building. the first and second floors offer a large variety of public spaces, including a restaurant, library and reading space, meeting areas, a children’s education and playground, classrooms, as well as a large multi-purpose event hall. on the roof, that is also directly accessible from the landscape, a café invites visitors to relax and enjoy the views of the surrounding city.

the surrounding reflections animate the façade with varying intensity depending on the time of day, season, and weather

it was never the intention to demonstrate the capabilities of digital tools by means of this project, nevertheless, this building couldn’t have been designed, developed, produced and built without the help of cutting-edge digital technology. in order to cope with the complexity of the spatial allocation and coordination of the structure, curtainwall, secondary structure and ceramic skin, a tailor-made computer script had to be coded. the script automatically generated a 3D model of the structure and façade, as well as production drawings for the respective contractors.  

the boundary between park and building is blurred

the exhibition path starts on the top floor and follows a ramp system around the atrium

the center at night

siteplan

level 3

section

project info:

project name: the ningbo urban planning exhibition center

location: ningchuan road / heqing north road, ningbo, china

client: city of ningbo

site area: 133,214 ft2 (12,376 m2)

general floor area: 268,334 ft2 (24,929 m2)

status: completed in 2019

architecture (competition stage): playze & schmidhuber

architecture (execution stages): playze

local design institute: shanghai institute of architectural design and research

landscape design institute: ningbo institute of urban construction design and research

façade consultant: RFR group, shanghai

general contractor: hwaking construction group

interior/exhibition design and construction: feng yu zhu, shanghai

photography: creatAR images, shanghai

designboom has received this project from our ‘DIY submissions‘ feature, where we welcome our readers to submit their own work for publication. see more project submissions from our readers here.

edited by: lynne myers | designboom