Hangzhou, China

The Hangzhou Alibaba DAMO Academy Nanhu Industry Park Project designed by Ken Wai of Aedas for Alibaba Network Technology is located in the Nanhu Science Center area of Yuhang District, Hangzhou, on the bank of the South Lake.

Hangzhou Alibaba DAMO Academy Nanhu Industry Park Project has recently been awarded a 2022 International Architecture Awards Honorable Mention by The Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture and Design and The European Centre for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies.

The site area is about 228,100 square meters, with a total construction area of about 480,000 square meters, of which about 290,000 square meters are above ground and about 190,000 square meters are underground.

The first phase of the project is divided into two major parts and the park can accommodate 14 scientific research teams.

The north-south axis is public life facilities for employees, which serves as a “trunk.”

A series of offices are arranged along the north-south side and are arranged on both sides in sequence.

They are regarded as the “twigs,” which is in line with the ecological cycle in which trees draw nutrients and irrigate branches.

The ecological park serves as the plant roots that can connect upstream and downstream enterprises.

The designer proposed the planning framework of “Tree of Wisdom” and uses the linden tree as a prototype to organize the building groups on the site.

At the same time, the design is inspired by the supreme philosophical conception of “一花一世界，一叶一菩提” with the bodhi leaf as a design prototype, creating a space environment that blends with the lake.

Project: Hangzhou Alibaba DAMO Academy Nanhu Industry Park Project
Architects: Aedas
Lead Architect: Ken Wai
General Contractor: Zhejiang Yijian Construction Group Co.
Client: Alibaba Network Technology Co.
Photographs Courtesy of the Architects