Vanke Cloud Design Commune

Design Challenge and Objectives Vanke Cloud attempted to create a new type of office community with low-rise quality in a high-rise structure. It is a working compound for the creative industry including start-up, growing and established companies with affiliated programs including exhibition, conference, retails and a creative market. We were inspired by the phenomenon that creative companies often prefer warehouses due to, presumably, the flexibility of the open plan and the material authenticity by the exposed structures. Hence, our design aimed to create a vertical warehouse building out of the best possible land capacity. Design for Better Spatial Performance The concept was initiated from questioning the common high-rise office type in China. Instead of having a huge comprehensive core in the center, we split the single core into four small cores and cut out the dark space in the center. In turn, the split-core can serve more floor areas within the site coverage boundary and a height limit, while complying with the statutory requirements in terms of the maximal evacuation distance and the deepest office plan for daylight. Another benefit of the split-core approach is the improvement of the structural stability. Around the split cores, we further stacked and rotated a series of floor slabs, achieving the spatial quality of both the openness in low-rise warehouses and the congestion in high-rise buildings. Design with Rigorous Process In this project, we proactively engage with the client to initiate a series of rigorous design research. For instance, due to the use of distributed air conditioners for management benefit, we investigated a big amount of façade solutions to accommodate the external air-con units according to exterior and interior appearance, as well as to the simulation of real light conditions. Since the client wanted to avoid any secondary structure other than the cast-in-situ concrete for fixing air-con units, we also employed BIM modeling in the early stage of design to ensure the precision of all the complicated concrete details. Moreover, we helped the client develop programs and the spatial-use strategies for all the communal space such as the floating meeting rooms around the central atrium and the covered façade terraces. Design for Changes A single office tower for collective companies must envisage the employees’ change from time to time. In order to increase the spatial adaptability, we purposely created a number of voids immediate outside different office units, particularly at the rooftop. Hence the tenants can claim more space if their business grows. Without surprise, Vanke Cloud attracts one of the most successful design firms to take the top two stories and eventually customized the void space at the rooftop. Our foresight spatial allowance in the original design appeared to successfully address the challenge of office growth. We see architecture as a kind of being that will sooner or later grow or decay, rather than ceasing our design upon the construction completion. In our heart, architectural design is the art of creating possibilities for future uncertainties.