[ GMP ARCHITEKTEN ] VON GERKAN, MARG UND PARTNER-METAL WAVE LINGANG

Once again, the architects von Gerkan, Marg and Partners (gmp) have designed characteristic facades for several production halls in the newly-founded city of Lingang near Shanghai. In doing so, the practice has demonstrated that, in future, industrial buildings in China will not be reduced to purely cost-optimized and utilitarian buildings. The facade design is already the third contract of this kind at the new industrial location, commissioned by Shanghai Lingang Huaping Economic Development and Shanghai Linyuan Asset Management.

To the south of Shanghai in the Pudong district, a new city for about half a million inhabitants is currently being created. As an industrial location, the intention is that Lingang New City provides the space so badly needed by the continually growing industry in the metropolitan region of Shanghai.

Following a commission by Shanghai Lingang Huaping Economic Development and Shanghai Linyuan Asset Management, and having completed the halls of the Lingang Industrial Park with characteristic blue facade stripes, and the “barcode halls” – the black striped pattern of which was inspired by a barcode label – gmp has now completed two further developments with large production halls in Lingang. The brief was to develop a building envelope and facade design with recognition value capable of creating a succinct identity that can be recognized by the as yet unknown future users of the buildings.

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The trademark of the new production halls is the rounded building corners, as they benefit traffic manage- ment on the outside. Upon the clients’ request, the windowless facade of this project, including the rounded corners, were not finished in render but constructed in silver-gray corrugated aluminum sheeting. Entrances and delivery zones have been emphasized in the facade design; in these areas, the horizontally structured corrugated cladding has been arranged with a vertical upward offset so that the sheeting on the first floor starts above the doors and gates, and forms canopies for the delivery areas.

Next to the single-story hall buildings with different footprint areas, a five-story building to one side at the end of a central axis bounds the “Huaping“ site to the north and, with its fenestration bands integrated into the metal facade, forms a perfect match with the overall ensemble.

The site situated further to the south is also based on an orthogonal grid; however, here the single-story and multi-story buildings are laid out in clusters. With their wrapped metal facades and conspicuous round- ed corners, the production halls stand out distinctly from their surroundings.

from divisare