Haxi New District Office Building, Harbin, China

Floor area: 23109.08M²
Site area: 18100.05 M²
Completion date: 2009

Project brief: Ha Xi government proposes to develop a office building, along Ha Xi Street and West Lake Road, at the center of Haxi district. The program including the land use department, planning department, and the new district administration office. The new office building will be the first contemporary landmark architecture in the region.

Site specifics: The site is located within the central business district of Haxi, where the high speed train station going to take place, and become the high end business, conference and university district of the city of Harbin.

Design inspiration: The designer propose the concept of this project based on a detail study about human activity and events, which this new town center expected: a closer relationship between the citizen and the office staff, an open space for different activities and relax, a long interactive surface between the indoor exhibition hall and outdoor walking path.

Materials used: Concrete structure, Glass, Wood, Aluminum Panel.

Sustainable features: The designer looked into creating a comfortable and green indoor environment to offset the severe weather condition of City of Harbin, one of the most northern cities in China. The indoor air circulation has been well thought of. Photovoltaic panels have been used to provide hot water for the whole building. Heat pump also has been investigated as an optional energy source. For the interior design, lot of green materials has been specified for less emission and better indoor air quality. For the Landscape design, local vegetation been widely used for less maintains and less water usage.

The New Haxi town plaza building has been designed to block the Northwest wind in the winter and to shelter the south sun in the summer in order to provide an active space all year long for both residents and visitors.

The linear design elements of the urban plaza set up the background for various types of events. With a central stage that sinks into the ground, and a partial curve wall as the backdrop, the building provides a public space that is active and dynamic. The different layers of softscape and hardscape add more dimensions to the space, while also creating smaller gathering spaces for different groups of users.

The space between curve glass curtain wall and the colonnade is a 3-meter wide outdoors exhibition walk way. Through this walk, the visitor can view the exhibition inside the building lobby without entering the building, while at the same time experiencing the different depth of the space behind the glass. The lighting effect of the plaza will be another factor to attract more people into the space.

The Building’s North and West elevations have been designed in a simple but strong manner, to support the function requirements of the space behind them, like shading, day lighting, etc. The Selection of materials and geometry forms, give another highlight to the backside of the building. The Tilted wood volumes serve the clearance needed by the Gym and exercise room, where the tilted surface come under the roof to create a logical location for the outdoors terrace to be created. The vertical sunscreens on the west façade act as a plane backdrop for the corner piece.

The main façade composed by a series of white columns go along with the ellipse landscape form, facing Ha Xi Street. The design of the elevation set an integrated and simple background for the open space, and forms a gray space to serve as the public exhibition corridor.

The atrium is the center of all the space and program in the building. The clear glazing with photovoltaic panels, form the skylight above the space. On one side of the space is 5 stories cable hanging glass curtain wall system. On the other side, there will be a sunshade screen with bold- wood –block-formed balcony, and a meeting room, presenting a warm and interesting interior façade. The ground level of the atrium is mainly used for the exhibition of new developments of the district, like planning models and architecture design.