China-Life R&D Center

The project is located in Zhongguancun Environmental Protection Science and Technology Demonstration Park in Daoxianghu Lake Service Area, one of the four major financial backstage areas in Beijing. It is mainly distributed with central financial supervision departments and large-size financial backstage service institutions in domestic.

Project Location:

Beijing

Building Area:

400,000m²

Building Height:

18m

Client:

China Life Insurance Co., Ltd.

Partner:

HENN

Designed/completed:

2008/2015

Product Category:

Public building, and science & technology industry park

Specialty Involved:

Building, structure, M&E, interior, landscape and green development
Located on a relatively independently “island” surrounded by mountains and water on all sides, the building complex in this project occupies five plots, and consists of many functional areas like R&D office area, test office area, training area, disaster recovery management area, electronic file management area, comprehensive management office area, logistics support management office area, logistics service area, duty training & accommodation area, energy & power equipment area, 50,000m2 data center, etc. The square main building inspired by the Chinese element “Jade Seal” expresses the integrity and insurance advocated by China Life Insurance. The spatial design has adopted the concept of “courtyard in garden” and combined nine courtyards of different levels, and the emphasis of the central courtyard and the north-south axis has highlighted the identity and importance of the enterprise.

Planning and design

Planning and design:
•Full utilization of the characteristics of the “green island” on site according to local conditions, and adoption of the layout principle of centralizing in the center and scattering at the boundary
•Following the urban texture principle of Beijing to emphasize the enclosure and courtyard layout
•Determination of partitioning principles according to the safety grades of architectural functions and the landscape resources of the site
•Upholding the principle of emphasizing the overall center of gravity and the visual axis
•Maximal integration of the office environment and landscape resources

Design concept

Design concept:
•Insurance enterprise and jade seal: The design concept is derived from the traditional Chinese jade cultural and seal culture.•What is passed on by the design concept of jade seal is a representative “Chinese element” that can embody the integrity and insurance advocated by China Life Insurance and that conforms to its “integrity-based and people-oriented” enterprise culture.

Data center

Data center:
•10,000m2 raised flooring area of the machine room, and large-size data center
•Adoption of the RR power supply system, advanced both at home and abroad
•Adoption of modular design for the machine room, invested and constructed by stages to save the preliminary construct cost
•Overall design based on the Tier IV standard proposed by Uptime
•PUE<1.6, efficient, environment-friendly and energy-saving

Architectural design

Architectural design:
•Establishment of safety divisions and organization of pedestrian and vehicle flows based on the safety protection grades, thus to achieve the unification of functions and environment
•Adoption of different design elements based on different plane functions
•Composition of the outer facade mainly by glass and stone materials, thus to create a transparent, open and comfortable space
•Adoption of fixed and mobile louvers and interspersed red Chinese elements to constitute the outer facade partially, thus to meet the service requirements of the rooms, conform to the Chinese artistic conception of the project’s overall planning and achieve the unification of overall and general buildings

Structural design

Structural design:
•Design of cast-in-place reinforced concrete framed girder-shear wall structure
•Adoption of a slightly wide and relatively flat framed girder large-panel structure, and use of steel reinforced concrete large-span structure locally, thus to maximally reduce the structural height; use of a slab column structure locally for M&E pipeline layout
•Adoption of 225m super-long seamless structural design

M&E design

M&E design:
• Ground-source heat pump + ice thermal storage scheme
•Water thermal storage technology application
•Adoption of radiant cooling ceiling at the end of chilled beam system-air conditioning system
•Increase of fresh air volume
•Recovery of fresh air heat
•Coolant management
• Energy-saving design of maintenance structure
•Grid-connected photovoltaic power generation system

Green building

Green building:
•Overall energy-saving goal: 32%
•Construction of the R&D center based on LEED Platinum Award
•GSHP system
•Solar hot water and solar photovoltaic power generation; arrangement of solar panels on the roof, with an annual power generation of 270,000kWh
•Reduction of light pollution and controllability of lighting system
•Natural lighting and light control
•Thermal insulation and airtightness requirements of efficient maintenance structure
•Rainwater management and utilization (building of a 600m3 reservoir)
•Minimum energy efficiency
•Selection of water-saving sanitary ware

Curtain wall design

Curtain wall design:
•Adoption of a simplified and concise form to express facade design
•Adoption of a unified facade composition, i.e., unified vertical and horizontal elements
•Adoption of unified materials: light natural stone materials, enameled glass louvers and metals
•Curtain wall system consisting of unit-type curtain wall and stick-type curtain wall
•Integration of fixed shading system and electric shading system
•Use of the stone materials at the upper and lower edges of the projections to emphasize the horizontal lines of the building
•Use of shading louvers as the vertical element between upper and lower stone cornices

Interior design

Interior design:
•Combination of the atrium space and outdoor courtyards to increase the service flexibility of the architectural space
•Design of a modern office environment showing respect for traditions
•Creation of a more spacious indoor visual field and a top-bottom penetrated dynamic atmosphere

Landscape design

Landscape design:
• Upholding of the “nine-element” culture in courtyard layout, and adoption of the design concept of “courtyard in garden” to combine courtyards of different levels
•Borrowing of the garden-making techniques and specifications of traditional imperial gardens in north China
•Emphasis of the central courtyard and the north-south axis
•Adoption of the schematic layout of Chinese-style gardens to emphasize the culture and characteristics of the enterprise
•Introduction of landscape resources into the office area to the maximum degree
•Focus on green development, environmental protection and rainwater collection
•View borrowing from the peripheral highland for use in the project
•Outward extension of indoor catering and leisure functions to fully enjoy the natural environment
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