Novartis (Shanghai) Block - C6
Shanghai, People's Republic of China · 2014
Photo · Arch-Exist
A precedent for mid-rise institutional facades utilizing deep horizontal balconies and fine wooden screens to manage solar gain while establishing a strong, layered horizontal rhythm.
- What we like about this project
- The top roof slab features a subtle upward curve at its outer edge, echoing traditional Chinese roof profiles in a minimalist manner.
Materials
- concrete
- brick
- wood
- glass
- stone
Visual identifiers
- horizontal-balconies
- wooden-screens
- overhanging-roof
- courtyard-lawn
- brick-facade
Style tags
- contemporary
- regionalist
- rationalist
Visual tags
- mid-rise
- shading-device
- institutional
- corporate-campus
- layered-facade
- symmetrical
- Geometry
- A symmetrical, multi-tiered rectangular block defined by deep, continuous horizontal balconies. The balconies feature thin vertical balusters, creating a fine-textured screen that contrasts with the heavy, overhanging concrete roof slab.
- Facade system
- Layered facade with concrete slab edges, brick infill, and external wooden screen balustrades.
- Structural guess
- Reinforced concrete frame with cantilevered floor slabs.
- Spatial scale
- A six-story mid-rise building framed by a human-scale courtyard and a lower adjacent stone wing.
- Lighting
- Bright, direct daylight casting soft shadows beneath the deep balcony overhangs and highlighting the texture of the wooden screens.
- Atmosphere
- Calm, orderly, and integrated with nature through the landscaped foreground.
- Environmental context
- Set within a landscaped corporate campus or institutional park with manicured lawns, young trees, and paved pedestrian pathways.
- Spatial experience
- The building sits behind a manicured green courtyard, presenting a layered, deeply recessed facade that balances monumental scale with delicate, human-scaled screening elements.
- Composition rhythm
- Strong horizontal bands of balconies are balanced by the fine, repeating vertical rhythm of the wooden balusters.
- Style reading
- Contemporary regional modernism
- Program
- Office or research facility
- Perspective
- Exterior Facade
- Discipline
- architecture
- Materials
- concrete, brick, wood, glass, stone
- Visual identifiers
- horizontal-balconies, wooden-screens, overhanging-roof, courtyard-lawn, brick-facade
- Style tags
- contemporary, regionalist, rationalist
- Visual tags
- mid-rise, shading-device, institutional, corporate-campus, layered-facade, symmetrical
- Geometry
- A symmetrical, multi-tiered rectangular block defined by deep, continuous horizontal balconies. The balconies feature thin vertical balusters, creating a fine-textured screen that contrasts with the heavy, overhanging concrete roof slab.
- Facade system
- Layered facade with concrete slab edges, brick infill, and external wooden screen balustrades.
- Structural guess
- Reinforced concrete frame with cantilevered floor slabs.
- Spatial scale
- A six-story mid-rise building framed by a human-scale courtyard and a lower adjacent stone wing.
- Lighting
- Bright, direct daylight casting soft shadows beneath the deep balcony overhangs and highlighting the texture of the wooden screens.
- Atmosphere
- Calm, orderly, and integrated with nature through the landscaped foreground.
- Environmental context
- Set within a landscaped corporate campus or institutional park with manicured lawns, young trees, and paved pedestrian pathways.
- Spatial experience
- The building sits behind a manicured green courtyard, presenting a layered, deeply recessed facade that balances monumental scale with delicate, human-scaled screening elements.
- Composition rhythm
- Strong horizontal bands of balconies are balanced by the fine, repeating vertical rhythm of the wooden balusters.
- Style reading
- Contemporary regional modernism
- Program
- Office or research facility
- Perspective
- Exterior Facade
- Discipline
- architecture