Luxelakes Floating Headquarters / Vector Architects

Luxelakes Floating Headquarters / Vector Architects - Exterior Photography
Vertical Courtyard. Image © Hao Chen

Luxelakes Floating Headquarters / Vector Architects - Exterior PhotographyLuxelakes Floating Headquarters / Vector Architects - Exterior PhotographyLuxelakes Floating Headquarters / Vector Architects - Exterior Photography, StairsLuxelakes Floating Headquarters / Vector Architects - Interior PhotographyLuxelakes Floating Headquarters / Vector Architects - More Images+ 46

  • Design Principal: Gong Dong
  • Project Architect: Chaoying Feng
  • Site Architect: Tianzhi Huang
  • Construction Management: Liangliang Zhao, Jinteng Li
  • Design Management: Chen Liu, Kai Zhang, Nan Wang, Dongping Sun
  • Project Team: Xiaokai Ma, I-Hsiu Chang, Dan Tu, Xin Ai, Yichi Wang, Han Zhang, Zhoujie Chen, Zhao Zhang, Dan Zhao, Xiaotong Teng
  • Structural Engineer (Preliminary Design): Congzhen Xiao, Dewen Chu, Hongrui Ma, Yilong Li
  • Mep Engineer (Preliminary Design): Peng Zhang (plumbing), Yanan Chen (heating), Hui Li (electricity), Xiaofei Li (electricity)
  • Ldi (Construction Documents Design): Sichan Shutai Architectural Design Co., LTD
  • Ldi Project Architect (Construction Documents Design): Chongling Zhang
  • Ldi Project Team (Construction Documents Design): Jie Gao, Fei Liu
  • Structural Engineer (Construction Documents Design): Ming Zhong, Gaohua Guo, Lin He
  • Mep Engineer (Construction Documents Design): Fulin Yin (plumbing), Yan Lin (plumbing), Bo Gong (heating), Dan Zhao (heating), Wei Liu (electricity), Xiaowei Liang (electricity)
  • Client: Chengdu Wide Horizon Investment Group Co., Ltd.
  • Branding & Signage Designer: XIANG SU
  • City: Chengdu
  • Country: China
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Luxelakes Floating Headquarters / Vector Architects - Exterior Photography
Tree Courtyard. Image © Arch-Exist

Text description provided by the architects. The Floating Headquarters project is part of the Luxelakes Eco-City development, located in Chengdu. Positioned on the Eco City’s northern edge the project is integrated with the residential area and sits beside a lakeside peninsula. The Floating Headquarters consists of eleven standalone office buildings enclosing three courtyards.

Luxelakes Floating Headquarters / Vector Architects - Exterior Photography
View from Tree Courtyard to the Stairs. Image © Arch-Exist
Luxelakes Floating Headquarters / Vector Architects - Exterior Photography
View from Vertical Courtyard to Tree courtyard. Image © Hao Chen

The intention of the design was to create a welcoming space. We can all agree that the most beautiful moments and events taking place in an urban neighborhood are when people meet and mingle in public spaces. In this project, we wanted to construct an environment able to enhance this most charming aspect of a contemporary city, to design a space where tenants and residents can be stimulated to unlock new lifestyle possibilities. The abundance of natural landscapes and public spaces created within the Floating Headquarters provides such an opportunity. The architectural concept stems from the exploration of two distinct and carefully planned spatial organizations: one is the design of a series of horizontal courtyards, the other is devised as a system of vertical circulations featuring green pockets at various levels.

Luxelakes Floating Headquarters / Vector Architects - Exterior Photography
Glass Block Façade and Water Courtyard. Image © Hao Chen
Luxelakes Floating Headquarters / Vector Architects - Image 38 of 51
sketch
Luxelakes Floating Headquarters / Vector Architects - Exterior Photography, Stairs
Sunken Plaza in Water Courtyard. Image © Hao Chen

Horizontally, three courtyards define the character of the spaces enclosed by the office buildings. These three enclosures are called the Vertical, Tree, and Water courtyard. They are placed in sequence and connect the North with the South of the plot. Each courtyard has a unified grid pattern of facades that define the buildings’ overall structure and appearance. The different types of grid patterns for the facade are further refined and adapted according to their orientation and positioning towards either the urban context or the courtyards.

Luxelakes Floating Headquarters / Vector Architects - Exterior Photography
Interconnected Pockets of Green Space in Tree Courtyard. Image © Arch-Exist
Luxelakes Floating Headquarters / Vector Architects - Image 32 of 51
sketch
Luxelakes Floating Headquarters / Vector Architects - Interior Photography
Interconnected Pockets of Green Space in Tree Courtyard. Image © Arch-Exist

The most northern courtyard, the so-called “Vertical Courtyard”, is positioned close to the city. For the facade facing the urban street, we used aluminum cladding and concrete blockwork, their palette, and texture evoking an industrial quality. A rich combination of vertical circulation systems and sunken gardens is introduced here, bringing vibrancy and diversity to the ground level while smoothening the transition from the surrounding streets to the more private interiors inside the office buildings. The second courtyard, the “Tree Courtyard”, is the project’s largest open landscaped space and located in the center of the building cluster. Its facades are covered with wood cladding and vertical greenery so to generate a natural environment.

Luxelakes Floating Headquarters / Vector Architects - Interior Photography, Facade
Pilotis. Image © Hao Chen
Luxelakes Floating Headquarters / Vector Architects - Interior Photography, Stairs, Facade
Sunken Plaza in Vertical Courtyard. Image © Arch-Exist

Following the terrain’s downwards slope towards the south, the third “Water Courtyard” is conceived as a tranquil and serene environment. For the facades we chose glass bricks, translucent and sensitive to light, so to create a soothing architectural atmosphere echoing the water’s natural transparency. Below the elevated office structures, the generous open areas feature crystal clear water parties. We wanted the buildings to float above the water at various heights so that when a gentle breeze stirs ripples across the liquid surfaces it also helps to ventilate and fine-tune the buildings’ microclimate.

Luxelakes Floating Headquarters / Vector Architects - Exterior Photography
Reflecting Pond in Water Courtyard. Image © Hao Chen
Luxelakes Floating Headquarters / Vector Architects - Interior Photography, Stairs, Facade
View from the Pilotis to Water Courtyard. Image © Hao Chen

Vertically, the strategy of raising the buildings above the ground allows for large open areas and sunken gardens to be created underneath. This gesture gives the overall impression of the eleven office buildings appearing to float above the terrain. This act of architectural levitation not only mitigates the potential feeling of claustrophobia, imposed by the encircling building volumes but first and foremost softens the transition between the massing of the architectural volumes and the scale of the city. The creation of a series of public spaces underneath the eleven buildings invites the city and its habitants into the project.

Luxelakes Floating Headquarters / Vector Architects - Exterior Photography, Facade
View from Vertical Courtyard to Tree courtyard. Image © Hao Chen
Luxelakes Floating Headquarters / Vector Architects - Interior Photography
Stepping Stones in Water Courtyard. Image © Hao Chen
Luxelakes Floating Headquarters / Vector Architects - Exterior Photography
Pilotis in Tree Courtyard. Image © Hao Chen

We also paid special attention to the areas located in-between the buildings’ sidewalls since these are commonly rather muted in their design and appearance. Rather than treating them as leftover spaces, the areas surrounding the fire safety stairs feature interconnected pockets of green space. The design for each individual office tower started with the understanding of the maximum usable floor areas, given that one set of external fire stairs is placed in-between two neighboring sidewalls. This resulted in a system of vertical public spaces shared in-between the buildings.

Luxelakes Floating Headquarters / Vector Architects - Interior Photography, Facade
Sunken Plaza in Vertical Courtyard. Image © Arch-Exist

These spaces all feature outdoor terraces and vertical plantings while complying with fire egress requirements. Part of the vertical circulation system, these interconnected green clusters climb from the subterranean gardens and courtyards upwards, meandering along the sidewalls all the way up to the rooftop of each office building. With the Floating Headquarters, we wanted to create a place where people meet, a place where relationships between people, the city, and nature are celebrated, horizontally and vertically.

Luxelakes Floating Headquarters / Vector Architects - Exterior Photography
Street View of West Elevation. Image © Arch-Exist
Luxelakes Floating Headquarters / Vector Architects - Exterior Photography
Street View of West Elevation. Image © Arch-Exist

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Project location

Address:No. 199 West Section of Luhu North Road, Luxelakes Eco-city, Tianfu New District, Chengdu, Sichuan, China

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Location to be used only as a reference. It could indicate city/country but not exact address.
About this office
Cite: "Luxelakes Floating Headquarters / Vector Architects" 21 Mar 2022. ArchDaily. Accessed . <https://www.archdaily.com/978243/luxelakes-floating-headquarters-vector-architects> ISSN 0719-8884

Vertical Courtyard. Image © Hao Chen

成都麓湖漂浮总部办公 / 直向建筑

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