Lyrical Forest, working in the forest by transforming an old house

A healthier, more natural, park-like and interconnected office campus is also suitable for living.

Original plan

The site is located in the suburb to the west of the Guangzhou city. The existing structure used to be a shoe factory. The client aims to transform it into an office building area called Zhihui Park (Smart Park) to foster the regional industry chain.

The three phases of this 80,000 square-meter campus include the single-story office of the first phase, the three-story detached office buildings of the second phase with various types of single- and multi-floor shopfronts that enrich the industrial ecology of the whole campus.

Design Concept
The initial concept of New Forest Living is “working in the forest” by transforming the old house with the idea of a green architecture while working and living in the forest.

The six buildings and the spaces in-between constitute the central axis of the park. As the public corridors connect the office buildings, the plants further integrate the varied functions of offices, gymnasium, restaurant, and exhibition halls in different structures into a sylvan environment for working and living.

The intention of the adaptive reuse is to reconnect, integrate, and create the old factory and warehouse area. The design and revitalization of decommissioned space bring forth the productive value of space as well as job opportunities.

Design Method
1. The dominance of nature: the interweaving of buildings and plants.

a. Open Up the Surface, Cover with Green Walls: the walls of the buildings are pushed outward. The steel structure and metal mesh become the trellis for the vines with alternating bamboo hedges. The greenery reduces the loading of the air condition system while increasing the visual amenity of the plants. The natural material softens the hard-boiled character of the buildings and becomes its new façade

b. Social Space that Fused with Nature: The grids of white cubes are embedded along the corridor of the green vines like relaxing balconies jutting out of the boundary of the wall. The couches and tables facilitate the temporary stay, where people converse and exchange ideas.
2. The Hybridity of the Connecting Corridors: Defining Space Through Human Freedom

a. The corridors benefit from the extra space after the walls are pushed backward. The unobstructed sight lines penetrate the space into difference floors, where activities are visible. The gathered office spaces open of the enclosure and create the spaciousness of the public realm. Space brings in sunlight, air, and water, in which the body is free to explore.
b. The intermingling of working and recreation spaces proclaims the integration of work with life. The bookstore, coffee shop, and daycare are right next to the office inside the park, creating a convenient and comfortable space for living and working.

3. The transparency of space create vertical and horizontal circulations

a. The inside/outside relationship the four-story office buildings are retained but transformed into a new space pattern: the clearstory of the atrium connects the floors. The three opening of the stairway hall introduces air and light to disintegrate the solid wall and blur the distinction between up and down, indoor and outdoor.
b. The removed wall, clearstory, cut slab, and the interior structure extend from the face to interior realign the relationship between horizontality and verticality. The new fabric of space emphasizes high transparency, free plan and facade, and more circulations for strolling and wandering.