Zaha Hadid Architects has won the design competition to build Phase II of the International Exhibition Centre in Beijing. Drawing from the cultural, academic and civic center of China, the International Exhibition Centre is located next to the city’s Capital International Airport as a site for conferences, trade fairs and industry expos. Now, Phase II will significantly expand exhibition space for knowledge and exchange.
Located at the core of the International Airport New City in Beijing’s Shunyi District, the centre will welcome local residents as well as visitors from across China and around the world. The team explains that the "integrated relationships between the exhibition halls, conference centre and hotel are echoed in the centre’s composition, arranged as a series of interconnecting lines and geometries that take inspiration from the textures of glazed tubular ceramic tile roofs within traditional Chinese architecture."
The project will include a series of shared courtyards for informal meetings, as well as landscaped gardens, cafes and outdoor public event spaces. In turn, a composite roof system is designed to insulate the interior environment with symmetric geometries to create an efficient, lightweight large span structure. The result will be a column-free, flexible space that can adapt to changes in exhibitions and nature of use. The team goes on to note that modular fabrication and construction methods will be used to minimize the centre’s construction time, investment and operational costs.
News via Zaha Hadid Architects
