Location: Shanghai, China.

Architect: Neri&Hu.

Neri&Hu has designed a 32,400 sqm headquarters for Schindler, a leading elevator manufacturer, as part of a new corporate master plan. The project includes offices, factories, warehouses, a research facility and a showroom. The architects sought to overcome the sense of isolation and vastness that characterises industrial facilities by emphasising the integration of human scale landscape elements and public spaces throughout the project. The resulting architectural proposal is two-part, a continuous base at ground level and floating light boxes above. The base podium rises and grows in height to form the Research & Development facility. At the opposing end of the podium, within three glass boxes, 800 employees occupy office spaces on four levels above, including meeting rooms, lounges, archives, a showroom, and a training centre. The two architectural elements that comprise the project are not only functionally unique, but expressed in vastly different material palettes. The podium features grey brick, a common building material in China, while the glass boxes above are composed of translucent channel glass sections, interspersed with white metal-framed window slots. The resulting design is both firmly grounded in local cultures and building traditions, while celebrating the innovative and forward-thinking corporate culture of Schindler.

Photo credit: Annika Feuss.