In Progress: Dalian International Conference Center / Coop Himmelb(l)au

Jan 2011

By Nico Saieh — Filed under: Featured ,In Progress ,Public Facilities , China, Coop Himmelb(l)au, Dalian, Steel

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Architects: Coop Himmelb(l)au
Location: Dalian, China
Design Principal: Wolf D. Prix
Project Partner: Paul Kath (until 2010), Wolfgang Reicht
Project Architect: Wolfgang Reicht
Design Architect: Alexander Ott
Design Team: Quirin Krumbholz, Eva Wolf, Victoria Coaloa
Project Team: Nico Boyer, Liisi Salumaa, Anja Sorger, Vanessa Castro Vélez, Lei Feng, Reinhard Hacker, Jan Brosch, Veronika Janovska, Manfred Yuen, Matthias Niemeyer, Matt Kirkham, Peter Rose, Markus Wings, Ariane Marx, Wendy Fok, Reinhard Platzl, Debora Creel, Hui-Cheng, Jessie Chen, Simon Diesendruck, Yue Chen, Thomas Hindelang, Pola Dietrich, Moritz Keitel, Ian Robertson, Keigo Fukugaki, Gaspar Gonzalez Melero, Giacomo Tinari
Model Building: Nam La-Chi, Paul Hoszowski, Taylor Clayton, Matthias Bornhofer, Katsyua Arai, Zhu Juankang, Lukas Allner, Phillip Reiner, Moritz Heinrath, Olivia Wimmer, Silja Wiener, Katrin Ertle, Maria Zagallo, Logan Yuen, André Nakonz, Arihan Senocak, Rashmi Jois, Sachin Thorat, Marc Werner
3D Visualization: Isochrom.com, Vienna; Jens Mehlan & Jörg Hugo, Vienna
Project Year: 2008-2011
Photographs: Markus Pillhofer

Local Partner: DADRI Dalian Institute of Architecture Design and Research Co. LTD & UD Studio, Dalian, P.R. China
Client: Dalian Municipal People’s Government, P.R. China
Structural Engineering: B+G Ingenieure, Bollinger Grohmann Schneider ZT-GmbH, Vienna, Austria & DADRI Dalian Institute of Architecture Design and Research Co. LTD, Dalian, P.R China
Acoustics: Müller-BBM, Planegg, Germany; Dr. Eckard Mommerz
Stage Design: BSEDI Beijing Special Engineering Design and Research Institute, Beijing, P.R. China
Lighting Design: a•g Licht, Wilfried Kramb, Bonn, Germany
Audio & Video: CRFTG Radio, Film and Television Design & Research Institute, Beijing, P.R. China
Climatic Design: Prof. Brian Cody, Berlin, Germany
HVAC, Sprinkler: Reinhold A. Bacher, Vienna, Austria & DADRI Dalian Institute of Architecture Design and Research Co. LTD, Dalian, P.R. China
Façade: Meinhardt Facade Technology Ltd. Beijing Branch Office, Beijing, P.R. China
Photovoltaic: Baumgartner GmbH, Kippenheim, Germany
General Contractor: China Construction Eight Engineering Division, Dalian, P.R. China

Urban Concept

Dalian is an important seaport, industrial, trade, and tourism center, located in the southernmost part of the Liaodong Peninsula in the Chinese Liaoning Province.

The city is currently undergoing a wave of transformation on coastal brownfield and reclaimed land which will entirely change the city’s significance within the next decade.

The key developments are:

Dislocation of container port out from the dense city area
Establishment of international port for cruise ships
New urban development on reclaimed land
Bridge over the sea bay to connect with the special economic zone

The urbanistic task for the design of the Dalian International Conference Center is to create an instantly recognizable landmark of the above mentioned urban development in Dalian. Situated at the terminal point of the future extension of the main city axis, the center will be anchored as its focal point in the mental landscape of the international community.

The footprint of the building on the site is therefore arranged in accordance with the orientation of the two major urban axis which merge in front of the building. The close surroundings are further differentiated with the conference spaces that penetrate the façades, cantilevering and thereby creating a spatially multifaceted building volume.

The various theaters and conference spaces are covered by a cone-shaped roof screen, whose controlled daylight input assure good spatial orientation for the visitors and atmospheric variety.

Architectural Concept

The building has both to reflect the promising modern future of Dalian and its tradition as an important port, trade, industry and tourism city.

The formal language of our project is not pictographic, but associative; it will combine and merge the rational structure and organization of its modern conference center typology with the floating spaces of traditional Asian architecture as well as with a design reminescent of the soft surfaces generated by the forces of the sea.

The project combines the following functions within one hybrid building with synergetic effects of functionality and spatial richness.

Conference Center
Theater and Opera House
Exhibition Center
Parking, Delivery and Disposal

A public zone at ground level allows for differentiating accessibility for the different groups of users, with the shopping and exhibition facilities directly connected to the conference center providing dramatic sight axis within the building. The actual performance and conference spaces are situated at +15 m above the entrance hall. The grand theater, with a capacity of 1,600 seats and a stage tower, directly opposite of a flexible conference hall for 2,500 seats, is positioned at the core in the center of the building.

With this arrangement the main stage can be used for the classical theater auditorium as well as for the flexible multipurpose hall. The main auditorium is additionally equipped with backstage areas like in traditional theaters and opera houses. This scheme is appropriate to broaden the range of options for the use of this space: from convention, musical, theater even up to classical opera, with very little additional investment. The main auditorium has the option to get equipped with a flexible floor providing all possible utilization from banquet to parliamentary seating.

The smaller conference spaces are arranged like pearls around this core, providing very short connections between the different areas, thus saving time while changing between the different units. Most conference rooms and the circulation areas have direct daylight from above.

Through this open and fluid arrangement the theater and conference spaces on the main level establish a kind of urban structure with “squares” and “street spaces”, which facilitates on the one hand user orientation within the building by identifiable “addresses”, and on the other hand provides also the required informal meeting places, chill-out and catering zones in between the halls, with view on the outside – an ideal atmosphere for modern conference utilization.

The access to the basement parking garage, truck delivery and waste disposal is located at the southwestern part of the site, thus freeing the front driveway to the entrances from transit traffic. The main entrance from the sea side corresponds to the future developments, including the connection to the future cruise terminal.

Technical, Climatic and Environmental Concept

The focus of the architectural design and project development lies on technology, construction and their interplay. The technical systems have a service function. Like an organism, they fulfil the tasks required for the spatial use of the building automatically, invisibly and silently.

With the Dalian International Dalian Conference Center, these systems work like a hybrid city within a building. For the technical infrastructure of the building this means, that we have to consider a huge amount of people circulating inside the building at the same time, who expect high standards in circulation and comfort as well as a state of the art building with respect to high flexibility, low energy consumption and low use of other natural resources.

Technical areas in the basement supply infrastructure within a rectangular grid, mainly inside the vertical cores. The main task for the conference zone is to provide these areas with sufficient amount of air, maintaining a high level of thermal and acoustical comfort. Therefore the conditioned air will be silently injected into the rooms via an inflated double flooring underneath the seating. Air blowout units inside the stairs will ensure consistent air distribution. Due to the thermal uplift, the heat of the people ascends to the ceiling and is extracted by suction.

Cooling in summer times will be provided by radiant ceiling panels which can additionally be used as radiant heaters in the wintertime.

Besides the mechanical equipment for air supply and exhaust we propose installations for heat energy recovery, so that this energy can be recycled for use inside the building.

One of the major tasks of sustainable architecture is the minimization of energy consumption. A fundamental contribution is to avoid considerable fluctuations in demands during the course of the day. Therefore it is essential to integrate the natural resources of the environment like:

Use the thermal energy of seawater with heat pumps for cooling in summer and heating in winter.
General use of low temperature systems for heating in combination with activation of the concrete core as thermal mass in order to keep the building on constant temperature.
Natural ventilation of the huge air volumes within the building allows for minimization of the mechanical apparatus for ventilation heating and cooling. The atrium is conceived as a solar heated, naturally ventilated sub-climatic area.
In the large volume individual areas can be treated separately by additional measures such as displacement ventilation.
A high degree of daylight use is aspired both for its positive psychological effect and for minimizing the power consumption for artificial lighting.
Energy production with solar energy panels integrated into the shape of the building.

Cite:
Saieh , Nico . "In Progress: Dalian International Conference Center / Coop Himmelb(l)au" 24 Jan 2011. ArchDaily. Accessed 16 May 2012. <http://www.archdaily.com/105752>

Comments (19)
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Bernardo says:

Sustainability Zero

# January 24, 2011 at 14:21

Martin says:

that should have been a thumbs up…

# January 24, 2011 at 15:20

kim says:

Obviously you are a fool who can’t read. Architecture is not only about images an ideaologies.

I would suggest a serious upgrade in your knowledge. Architecture needs brain not architollah.

# January 24, 2011 at 17:27

Martin Hedin says:

This is like dumping toxic waste in a lake and then plating a flower on the shore. And yes I read the text.

# January 25, 2011 at 07:02

Eugene says:

Wow, Buckminster Fuller just rolled in his grave…

# January 24, 2011 at 15:40

Obviously Bernardo you need to read the text, not only look at the photos…architecture is not only about postcard and keywords. Get a brain, start thinking.

# January 24, 2011 at 17:28

John H says:

In my entirely subjective opinion, this looks absolutely awful!

# January 24, 2011 at 18:23

art says:

archiwars!

# January 24, 2011 at 19:35

china man says:

“Sustainability Zero”

you know thats china or?

# January 24, 2011 at 21:49

Bozo says:

The main problem with the work of these guys is they cover everything with crappy looking aluminum panels that will look terrible in ten years. Imagine maintaining this thing. They should try and work out how to lighten the structure and expose it. It seems to be more a car or a boat.
Cool renders though.

# January 24, 2011 at 22:47

up_today_arch says:

I’ve seen BMW in Munchen a lot of times… I hope this one is going to be anoter terific simbolic building by Coop Himmelb(l)au…..

# January 25, 2011 at 03:47

s.pereslegin says:

often building from Coop Himmelb(l)au look more attractive during construction than after completion…

# January 25, 2011 at 05:05

floyd says:

I can actually agree to bernardo’s post. Let me explain why: you can’t talk about sustainability of a building that is on one hand cooled and heated by some natural resources (which is okay so far) BUT on the other hand is constructed out of thousands of tons of steel JUST to achieve the sheer shape of it. The building feels like someone came up with that shape (which I personally don’t like very much since I think these blobs and twisters all over the world are just pure “fashiontecture”) and then thought about putting at least a bit of a concept for sustainability into it to justify the structure. Sustainabilty means – and yes even should be in china – to cut down energy AND the usage of materials, since materials need energy during assembly, too. I doubt that this building will ever amortize the energy that was wasted by creating the steel frame. If you want to do something good for nature, go design minimalist.

# January 25, 2011 at 06:26

jason says:

1-yeah then we should all stop designing stuff and just make boxes, or lets just make huts out of straws. That would be “sustainable.” This kind of approach toward sustainability would eventually diminish architecture purely into an act of building, not imagining or envisioning.
2- This kind of architecture is such a small fraction of the buildings that are being built every day. The purpose of them is not purely efficiency. Their budgets are big, and they are spent for experimenting with certain aesthetic premises and building technologies. Cool Himmelblau probably only designed a handful of buildings. You comment is almost like telling Jeff Koons or Damien Hirst to stop making large sculptures because they waste materials.

# January 28, 2011 at 00:37

Soupdragon says:

Emperors new clothes?

# January 25, 2011 at 09:08

camel says:

Before all the uninformed comments, a real review of program, technology, cost, etc., etc. is needed in order to comment on this thing.

Yeah, its certainly a landmark. And yeah, CH has done stuff good and bad.

But article here really says ABSOLUTELY nothing about why this looks like it does.

Living with the thing will be interesting, at the very least. Personally

it makes my teeth hurt………..(FLW)

# January 25, 2011 at 09:31

ASphere says:

another cloud

# January 25, 2011 at 12:13

J Z says:

Dalian, situated inland and away from the coast, haven’t really been boomtown since china’s economic reform and opened up to foreign trade. But with China now building high speed railroads in an attempt to develop the inland areas, this is their answer to the emerald city at the end of the yellow brick road. Sure its curvilinear form and shiney steel membrane is over the top, but they are simply trying to do what Gehry did at Bilbao.

# January 25, 2011 at 19:08

quoc khanh says: