White Z Veranda Shanghai, Chinese Building in Jinshan, Landscape Architecture Images

White Z Veranda Shanghai Building

Jinshan Agricultural + Urban Park Landscape China – design by Designer-Ning Zhang

4 Sep 2017

White Z Veranda Building in Shanghai

Design: Ning Zhang

Location: Jinshan, south-west of Shanghai, China

White Z Veranda Shanghai Building, China

The concept reconnected the images of a farmland and a contemporized area. Highly identifiable design, fine spaces and consequent public attentions are pillars of the strategy. The folded planar structure provides sufficient space for plaza and courtyard within a narrow site. Grasses on the south side block the bustling from the freeway and formed beautiful streetscape of high identity with verandas. The inviting openings on the structure create changing views for the visitors while they are walking by.

The Z structures provides a public area for the modern Agricultural Park in Jinshan, south-west of Shanghai. The structure links multiple agricultural projects and provides different activities for visitors. The veranda, an essential element in traditional Chinese gardening, has been selected as the theme of the design. Instead of the complex wooden structure of a traditional veranda, a simple concrete structure will not only harmonize the agricultural environment and the surrounding modern facilities, but also effectively guarantee that the project costs less than EUR80 per square meter.

As a navigating project in the park, Z concerns the development strategy of the park, positioning, spaces, functions, among many others. The designer established occasional discussions with the users, including the management department, owners of surrounding agricultural projects and residents. After more than one year of design, the project has now fully come into use and successfully met the anticipations of different parties.

The Z Structure is 200millimeter thick and reaches out for maximum 7meter with the longest span of more than 10meter, including many single cantilever structures. Meanwhile, the weight of landscape earth and limited time may cause uneven sedimentation. Below are measures we adopted to solve those problems, Improving the formula of concrete to enhance its strength, Integral casting of walls and ceilings, Light material wrapped in cantilever concrete to reduce the load, Applying cement base to guarantee even sedimentation of the large volume of earth, Applying three-dimensional grid and internal beams to guarantee the integrity of earth.

The designer believes that the vitality of a space depends on how it is involved with the users’ behaviors, thus the scene, as a combination of space and behaviors, became the core focus of our design research. Workshops that participated by different parties, interviews with the users, simulations on the using of spaces and vitality analysis based on phenomenology were taken as important approaches in our research. The effectiveness of our design is further proved by the energetic interaction between the project and the users after it was completed.

The challenge on the balance between quality and budget, We used simple forms and structures, introduced low cost materials, including concrete, natural soils and white cobblestones and installed lightings and seating that were made of concrete for landscapes. The result is a unique style with unit cost lower than EUR80. The challenge on the combination of tradition and modernity like verandas, terraces, courtyards and many elements in traditional Chinese spaces became the key in our design accordingly to the users’ customs.

White Z Veranda Shanghai – Building Information

Site Area, 11536 square meter
Building Area, 397 square meter
Gross Floor Area, 397 square meter
Building Coverage Ratio, 3.4 percent
Gross Floor Ratio, 3.4 percent
Max. Height, 2.7 meter
Landscape Area, 11139 square meter

Project Architect: Ning Zhang, Team Zhenguo Li, Jue Yuan, Jinpeng Liu, Yi Li, Dan Wu, Hong Wang and Xiaohui Dong.

The project started in December 2013 and finished in May 2015 in Shanghai.

Photographer: SHEN, White Z structure, 2015

PROFILE:
Langxia, Jinshan modern agriculture park is located on southwest of Jinshan district, Shanghai. This 153-square-kilometre park, created a decade ago, functions as a demonstration area for both traditional and innovative farming methods. This includes fruit and vegetable cultivation, dairy and fish farming, and livestock breeding. In recent years, nearly one third of the land is planned to transfer the existing function to country parks, and opened to the public as a recreation space. It’s developer recently revealed the plan of the park, the first of six country parks in Shanghai.

Compared with other country parks, the one in Langxia will focus on ecological restoration and sustainable development. The park will have the city’s first suburban marathon route and will invite 20 agricultural enterprises to develop agro-tourism such as fruit-picking tours and farming workshops. Z structure as a pilot program, injected new vitality into the country park.

Location: Jinshan, Shanghai, China