Hangzhou Xixi's first office park

Large urban public buildings today are more than formal and functional breakthroughs; they act as windows onto a city's cultural history, contemporary character and future temperament. The design of Xixi First Office Park explores what an office campus means to the city, and, in internet-era Hangzhou where innovative talent is flooding in, whether the link between campus and city can inspire new models of innovative workplace. The site lies five hundred meters north of Xixi Wetland, a rare urban-wetland, farming-wetland and cultural-wetland hybrid. Urban expansion has damaged the wetland's ecology even as it delivers economic and cultural benefits; the resettlement of original residents, while protecting the wetland, has erased the intertwining of nature and daily life. The project sits adjacent to the wetland with excellent natural resources in a district the government is rapidly developing, surrounded by high-end housing, finance, commerce and emerging cultural facilities. Against Hangzhou's polycentric planning, the area will soon become busy. The design seeks to respect the city's developmental grain, pursue openness of public space, and create a sense of belonging and recognition that activates the district and the city, while offering an innovative workplace typology suited to the internet age.