Weifang Science and Technology University Administration

Location: Weifang, China

Client: Weifang University

Date: TBC Completion

Total Area: 21,000m²

Budget: Undisclosed

Team credits:

AZPML: Alejandro Zaera-Polo, Maider Llaguno-Munitxa, Guillermo Fernandez-Abascal, Manuel Eijo, Donghua Chen, Lidia Martinez, Policarpo del Canto

Renders: SBDA

Model: AZPML

The Gate building sits at the West entrance to the campus. It includes mostly administration facilities, and some representative spaces, meeting rooms and a few commercial facilities such as post office, info centre, exhibition area… It has an area of approximately 21,000m2 and acts as a security gate into the campus, welcoming visitors and students alike.

The general organization is based on a traditional Chinese gate with a tripartite layout. The basic scheme has been combined with the idea of courtyard buildings, associating each entryway to a different courtyard. The central gateway leads into the University mall and it hovers above the entryway with some of the most representative offices of the university.

The concept is inspired by the Dou Gong construction technology, which is based on the piling of parallelepiped elements to produce a more complex structure. For this combinatorial logic we have developed U shaped units. These units are piled in different configurations, creating elevated gardens which are accessible from the upper floors. All plans in the buildings are double fronted in order to be able to use cross ventilation and daylight in every part of the building. Given the indeterminacy about the program we have composed the building so it will be able to accommodate change, through a combinatorial system of basic units. We have used as a reference the Yi Jing, as a Manual of Changes.