Nanjing International Youth Cultural Centre / Zaha Hadid Architects

Nanjing International Youth Cultural Centre / Zaha Hadid Architects - Facade, Windows
© Hufton + Crow

Nanjing International Youth Cultural Centre / Zaha Hadid Architects - CityscapeNanjing International Youth Cultural Centre / Zaha Hadid Architects - Image 3 of 32Nanjing International Youth Cultural Centre / Zaha Hadid Architects - StairsNanjing International Youth Cultural Centre / Zaha Hadid Architects - Facade, WindowsNanjing International Youth Cultural Centre / Zaha Hadid Architects - More Images+ 27

  • Zha Consulting Associate: Cristiano Ceccato
  • Zha Project Architect: Shao-Wei Huang
  • Zha Lead Facades & Envelope: Shao-wei Huang, Lydia Kim
  • Zha Lead Conference Centre: Melike Altinisik
  • Zha Lead Towers & Podium: Garin O’Aivazian
  • Zha Lead Interiors: May-Jinqui Qin
  • Zha Lead Landscape & Urbanism: Carolina Lopez-Blanco
  • Zha Lead Site Supervision: Ed Gaskin
  • Zha Competition Team: Garin O’Aivazian, Jalal El-Ali, Kyla Farrell, Maria Tsironi, Matthew Richardson, Melike Altinisik, Meng Chan Tang, Mirco Becker, Mostafa El Sayed, Paolo Gamba, Saman Saffarian, Shajay Bhooshan, Shao- wei Huang, Shyamala Duraisingam, Spyridon Kaprinis, Suryansh Chandra, Yevgeniya Pozigun
  • Zha Project Team: Alexandros Kallegias, Ashwin Shah, Carlos Michel-Medina, Carlos Piles Puig, Chao Wei, Charbel Chagoury, Christy Yin, David Doody, Duarte Reino, Elena Scripelliti, Emma Chen, Ermis Chalvatzis, Eugene Leung, Frenji Koshy, George Frenji, Ho-Ping Hsia, Hongdi Li, Igor Pantic, Jamie Mann, John Randle, Julia McLeod, Katharina Hieger, Konstantinos Mouratidis, Leonid Krykhtin, Leo Wu, Mattia Gambardella, Michael Grau, Michael Sims, Mostafa El Sayed, Mu Ren, Nassim Eshaghi, Natassa Lianou, Nicholette Chan, Niqui Berkowski, Patryk Ruszkowski, Sebastian Andia, Shajay Bhooshan, Soomeen Hahm, Spyridon Kaprinis, Vincent Nowak, Yuchen Zhang, Yue Shi, Yun Zhang
  • Zha Site Supervision Team: Juan Liu, David Chen, Liyuan Zhang, Vincenzo Cocomero, Xi Wang, Xin Ji, Yan Geng
  • Façade Engineer: Buro Happold
  • Design: Zaha Hadid, Patrik Schumacher
  • Zha Project Director: Nils-Peter Fischer
  • City: Nanjing
  • Country: China
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Nanjing International Youth Cultural Centre / Zaha Hadid Architects - Cityscape
© Hufton + Crow

Text description provided by the architects. The Nanjing International Youth Cultural Centre is located on the river in Hexi New Town; Nanjing’s new central business district (CBD). The project includes a 106,500 m2 conference centre, two towers totaling 258,500 m2 , 100,000 m2 of basement areas and the plaza that terminates the CBDs main axis on the riverfront.

Nanjing International Youth Cultural Centre / Zaha Hadid Architects - Windows
© Hufton + Crow

The masterplan expresses the continuity and connectivity between the urban environment of Hexi New Town, riverside parkland, and the rural landscapes of Jiangxinzhou Island in the Yangtzer River connected by a pedestrian bridge.

Nanjing International Youth Cultural Centre / Zaha Hadid Architects - Cityscape
© Hufton + Crow

The Nanjing International Youth Cultural Centre occupies a site area of 5.2 hectares with a construction floor space of 465,000 square metres. The taller of the two towers is 315 metres/68 floors high and contains office floors and the Jumeirah Hotel. The shorter tower is 255 metres/59 oors in height and houses a further 4-star hotel. The two towers share a five-level, mixed-use podium that houses the Cultural Centre.

Nanjing International Youth Cultural Centre / Zaha Hadid Architects - Image 3 of 32
© Hufton + Crow
South Elevation
Nanjing International Youth Cultural Centre / Zaha Hadid Architects - Image 19 of 32
Courtesy of Jumeirah

The four major program elements of the cultural centre (a Conference Hall, an Auditorium, a Multifunctional Hall and Guest Zone) are independent volumes surrounding a central courtyard. These four elements merge into a singular whole at higher levels, allowing pedestrians to walk through an open landscape at ground level. The Conference Hall seats 2,100 and is equipped with a multi-purpose proscenium stage suitable for conferences, cultural and theatrical events. The Auditorium seats 500 and is optimized for both acoustic orchestral performances and also shows using audio equipment.

Nanjing International Youth Cultural Centre / Zaha Hadid Architects - Facade, Windows
© Hufton + Crow

The towers create a dynamic transition from the vertical of the urban CBD to the horizontal topography of the river. The taller tower signifies the position of the plaza both within the urban grid of Hexi New Town and on the Nanjing Skyline. The natural landscapes of the river are connected to the urban streetscape of the new CBD through the fluid architectural language of the mixed-use podium and conference centre. This architectural composition juxtaposes the vertical (city) and horizontal (river and landscape).

Nanjing International Youth Cultural Centre / Zaha Hadid Architects - Stairs
© Hufton + Crow
Floor Plan
Nanjing International Youth Cultural Centre / Zaha Hadid Architects - Windows, Facade
© Hufton + Crow

At the interface between tower and podium, the glass facade gradually transforms into a grid of rhomboid fibre-concrete panels, giving the large surfaces of podium and conference centre a solid and sculptural appearance; underlining the dynamic character of the form and providing daylight to the building’s interior.

Nanjing International Youth Cultural Centre / Zaha Hadid Architects - Cityscape
© Hufton + Crow

The centre is the first completely top- down/bottom-up tower construction in China - starting at street level and building upwards and downwards in tandem - constructed in only 34 months using ZHA’s expertise and experience in 3D digital BIM (Building Information Modelling) design and construction management to reduce the on-site programme by a year to only 18 months.

Nanjing International Youth Cultural Centre / Zaha Hadid Architects - Chair, Lighting
© Hufton + Crow
West Elevation
Nanjing International Youth Cultural Centre / Zaha Hadid Architects - Image 18 of 32
© Hufton + Crow

The 465,000m2 Nanjing International Youth Cultural Centre initially opened for the 2014 Youth Olympic Games. Jumeirah Hotel Nanjing now occupies the centre’s tallest tower. One of the world’s leading luxury hotel brands, Jumeirah recently completed their Nanjing Hotel as the city’s premier hospitality destination.

Nanjing International Youth Cultural Centre / Zaha Hadid Architects - Cityscape, Facade
© Hufton + Crow

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Project location

Address:Nanjing, Jiangsu, China

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Location to be used only as a reference. It could indicate city/country but not exact address.
About this office
Cite: "Nanjing International Youth Cultural Centre / Zaha Hadid Architects" 04 Dec 2018. ArchDaily. Accessed . <https://www.archdaily.com/907145/nanjing-international-youth-cultural-centre-zaha-hadid-architects> ISSN 0719-8884

© Hufton + Crow

南京国际青年文化中心 / 扎哈·哈迪德建筑事务所

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