Taopu Smart City Land Block 604, Former HERO Pen Factory Preservation and New Construction

Hero Tiandi draws on the existing tradition of smaller-scale, interconnected factory spaces to create a distinct architectural character for the mixed-use campus. The scale and craftsmanship of the original buildings provide an authentic connection to the site’s history, while modern towers offer inspiration for the character and quality of its future. The Hero Tiandi development integrates original factory structures and new high-rise towers into a cohesive mixed-use campus. The mixture of building heights, types and uses creates a welcoming, human-scaled environment. The two larger towers of 20- and 33-stories are envisaged as sculptural, cubic forms that grow out of the trabeated language of the historic buildings at their base, into more refined, crystalline volumes at their crown. The lower 3- to 4-story buildings reinterpret the historic architectural language of the site through new materials and contemporary detailing. The typically long and narrow factory buildings are reimagined as interlinked clusters, providing flexible office space with permeable retail or public uses on the ground floor. A series of stand-alone office “villas” punctuate the landscape, which also present the opportunity for smaller-scale retail to animate the pedestrian level. Active, transparent façades at street-level encourage pedestrian and retail activity, while strengthening the identity of this urban block among the major streets that surround it. The development of a varied scale of architecture provides a sympathetic connect for the site’s historic buildings, while also harmonizing with the larger scale of the Taopu development to the south.