WD Leads Design For New Silicon Wafer Manufacturing Campus in Yixing, China.
For Zhonghuan Corporation, a growing manufacturer that supplies the critical building blocks of the technology that empowers the smart-devices of the future, WD created an architecture and landscape for the 67-acre site, that expresses the fundamental elements of the manufacturer’s processes and values.
Creating design symmetry for both landscape and buildings on the site, earth and water are shaped to provide a harmonious balance between vehicular and pedestrian movement. The nearby Yangtze River is a reminder of the prosperity that water can bring as it weaves its way through a region, and within the project site, the dynamic geometry of water provides a tranquil amenity for the campus employees while presenting the symbolic cultural association of success and good fortune to visitors and clients.
The transformation of earth in the form of silica is critical to the manufacturing of the company’s product. The landscape design proposes to transform the earth by bringing 3-dimensional movement and softness to an otherwise flat site, bridging the scale of the pedestrian to the scale of the buildings.
Rising from the landscape, as the most public building face of the campus, and taking inspiration from the pattern and color of silicon chips, the 4-story, 180,000 GSF architectural sculpture features a high-performance curtainwall envelope with a composite aluminum spandrel system finished in metallic black which envelopes layers of collaborative office, dining and meeting spaces.
The building is centered around a formal arrival court and reception space for the campus, while the architecture itself dramatically bridges over vehicular gateways to the manufacturing areas of the campus, providing elevated outdoor terrace spaces with sweeping views of the region beyond.