Nantong Urban Agricultural Park Tourist Service Center

Nantong Urban Agricultural Park Tourist Service Center 

Z-one Tech

Nantong Urban Agricultural Park Tourist Service Center
© LINBIAN

ARCHITECTS
Z-one Tech

CLIENTS
Nantong City Modern Agriculture Development Co., Ltd.

CONSTRUCTION DOCUMENTATION
Shanghai V-can Architecture Design Co. Ltd.

LANDSCAPE
New Pastoralism Research Institute(beijing Tianyuandongfang Operation Management Co. Ltd. )

MANUFACTURERS
上海民享建筑科技有限公司, 上海泛洲建筑安装工程配套有限公司, 磨方竹木(上海)有限公司

DESIGN TEAM
Shaoying Lei, Hao Jiang, Huajian Gu, Hao Chen, Tianrui Zhu, Yuhao Fu, Shiyuan Tang, Ziwei Zhu, Yingbo Li, Sihan Guo(Intern)

ENGINEERING
Min Zhang, Wenbin Pan, Kun Liu

ELECTROMECHANICAL DESIGN
Feifei Xia, Changhong Xie, Xihua Xu

PROJECT DIRECTOR
Cheng Zhang

PHOTOGRAPHS
linbian

AREA
4553 M² 

YEAR
2021

LOCATION
Nantong, China

CATEGORY
Cultural Architecture

Nantong Urban Agricultural Park Tourist Service Center
© LINBIAN

Text description provided by architect.

Recently, a service buildings group of Nantong Urban Agricultural Park has been completed by Z-ONE Architects (a newly emerging studio that specializes in experimental architectural practice in rural China; established in 2020).

The project is located in the northern suburb of Nantong, Jiangsu, China, with a total construction area of 4552.8m². It took four months from concept design to final completion.

Nantong Urban Agricultural Park Tourist Service Center
© LINBIAN
Nantong Urban Agricultural Park Tourist Service Center
© LINBIAN

The project includes 3 buildings: a Comprehensive Service Center called "Gather Grain into Granary", an Exhibition Hall of Rural Life and a public restroom renovation.

Considering the project is located in the entrance area, which is an important place for visitors to perceive the whole park, it needs to transition between urban and rural experience, without missing the reflection and reconstruction of contemporary architectural vocabulary.

Nantong Urban Agricultural Park Tourist Service Center
© LINBIAN
Nantong Urban Agricultural Park Tourist Service Center
© LINBIAN

The main function of building "Gather Grain into Granary" Comprehensive Service Center, a collection of five warehouse-shaped spaces, adopts a steel-timber combined structure.

It gathers a field library, an exhibition space, a studying space, a dining space, and a multi-function hall for variable activities.

Nantong Urban Agricultural Park Tourist Service Center
© LINBIAN
Nantong Urban Agricultural Park Tourist Service Center
© LINBIAN

The design team creates internal ‘light wells’ in every core space by the intersection of the structure.

Each space provides different sunlight perception through different ways of light leading which makes visitors accept the power of nature in different layers.

Z-ONE team applied “dimension reduction” to most of the free-form surface during the design process, which greatly reduced the amount of special-shaped steel and wood structure and also the engineering difficulty.

Nantong Urban Agricultural Park Tourist Service Center
© LINBIAN
Nantong Urban Agricultural Park Tourist Service Center
© LINBIAN

At the same time, the problem of laying tiles in large quantities on the irregular curved roof was creatively solved.

The Exhibition Hall of Rural Life used a membrane structure of architectural vocabulary.

Its form and texture not only reflect the theme of the whole park but also reflect the unique spatial and morphological elements.

Nantong Urban Agricultural Park Tourist Service Center
© LINBIAN
Nantong Urban Agricultural Park Tourist Service Center
© LINBIAN

The whole building creates different areas of function by gradually changing the height of interior spaces.

While the pure white texture and the penetration of skylight ensure the integrity of interior space and make a small house have a layering of a big space.

Nantong Urban Agricultural Park Tourist Service Center
© LINBIAN
Nantong Urban Agricultural Park Tourist Service Center
© LINBIAN

A Curved long horizontal window facing unique river scenery makes the whole space to be both separated and integrated with the external landscape through the delicate top height control.

The renovation of the public toilet takes into account the overall spatial form of the entrance.

Nantong Urban Agricultural Park Tourist Service Center
© LINBIAN
Nantong Urban Agricultural Park Tourist Service Center
© LINBIAN

It hopes to reduce the physical sense of the building as much as possible. The perception of the building is that the roof is heavy and the walls are light.

While the grey space formed by the public washbasin in the front interacts with the reflective material in the back making the heavy material roof present the feeling of floating.

Nantong Urban Agricultural Park Tourist Service Center
© LINBIAN


Nantong Urban Agricultural Park Tourist Service Center
© LINBIAN
Nantong Urban Agricultural Park Tourist Service Center
© LINBIAN
Nantong Urban Agricultural Park Tourist Service Center
© LINBIAN
Nantong Urban Agricultural Park Tourist Service Center
© LINBIAN


Nantong Urban Agricultural Park Tourist Service Center
Section. Image Courtesy of Z-one Tech
Nantong Urban Agricultural Park Tourist Service Center
Public toilet Section. Image Courtesy of Z-one Tech
Nantong Urban Agricultural Park Tourist Service Center
Section. Image Courtesy of Z-one Tech
Nantong Urban Agricultural Park Tourist Service Center
Section. Image Courtesy of Z-one Tech


Nantong Urban Agricultural Park Tourist Service Center
Facade. Image Courtesy of Z-one Tech
Nantong Urban Agricultural Park Tourist Service Center
Facade. Image Courtesy of Z-one Tech
Nantong Urban Agricultural Park Tourist Service Center
Facade. Image Courtesy of Z-one Tech
Nantong Urban Agricultural Park Tourist Service Center
Facade. Image Courtesy of Z-one Tech


Nantong Urban Agricultural Park Tourist Service Center
First floor Plan. Image Courtesy of Z-one Tech
Nantong Urban Agricultural Park Tourist Service Center
Roof Plan. Image Courtesy of Z-one Tech
Nantong Urban Agricultural Park Tourist Service Center
Roof Plan. Image Courtesy of Z-one Tech
Nantong Urban Agricultural Park Tourist Service Center
First floor Plan. Image Courtesy of Z-one Tech


Nantong Urban Agricultural Park Tourist Service Center
Detail. Image Courtesy of Z-one Tech
Nantong Urban Agricultural Park Tourist Service Center
Detail. Image Courtesy of Z-one Tech


Nantong Urban Agricultural Park Tourist Service Center
Model. Image Courtesy of Z-one Tech
Nantong Urban Agricultural Park Tourist Service Center
Model. Image Courtesy of Z-one Tech


Nantong Urban Agricultural Park Tourist Service Center
Master Plan. Image Courtesy of Z-one Tech
Nantong Urban Agricultural Park Tourist Service Center
Analysis. Image Courtesy of Z-one Tech
Nantong Urban Agricultural Park Tourist Service Center
Exploded Views. Image Courtesy of Z-one Tech