Gardens grace a Roche’s first factory in Asia
{"autoplay":"true","autoplay_speed":"8000","speed":"1000","arrows":"true","dots":"false","loop":"true","nav_slide_column":5,"rtl":"false"}
{"autoplay":"true","autoplay_speed":"8000","speed":"1000","arrows":"true","dots":"false","loop":"true","nav_slide_column":5,"rtl":"false"}

DETAILS

LocationSuzhou, China
ClientSkidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP
SERVICE:
Size18 acres (site); 13 acres (landscape)

As the first manufacturing facility in Asia, Roche Diagnostics hopes to set a model for future projects in the region. Located in Suzhou, a city with a strong tradition of gardening, this flagship factory will not only meet Roche’s global standard, but will be infused with the spirit of the city’s gardens, distinguishing it from a stereotypical factory. A clear layout ensures that complex transportation and production flows function well. Three lateral streets are given different characters according to their locations and functions, and are strung together along one central spine. Three gardens will accommodate all future phases of development, anticipated to stretch over 10 years.

 

A central garden alongside the campus cafe interprets typical gardens of the region in a fresh, modern style, introducing a loop of sequenced spaces with seasonally changing views and providing an outdoor respite for workers.

Related Projects

Poly International Plaza

Poly International Plaza is an innovative office, retail, and exhibition center development located in the Guangzhou trade district. Sited along the Pearl River and adjacent to historic Pazhou Temple Park, the project presents a precedent toward integrating development with its site and context, embracing the place of garden and sustainability in the society’s...

Ichigaya Forest

“Ichigaya Forest” is the privately owned, publicly accessible, major open space on Dai Nippon Printing Company’s 5.4-hectare new world headquarters in the Shinjuku Ward. Vertical development and production modernization that extends underground was made possible the creation of this 3.2-hectare open space. Over half the site is now planted wi...

Alipay Headquarters

The new the Hangzhou Alipay Headquarters is located between the Xi Xi wetlands and downtown Hangzhou, a city renowned for its rich culture and beautiful landscapes. Hills and small mountains surround the headquarters building in three directions, and in the fourth lies downtown Hangzhou. Three landscape “movements” derived from openings in the building direct ...

San Antonio Station

San Antonio Station is a landscape and architectural retrofit project that transforms an introverted site into an open, connected, and flexible campus landscape. Originally Mayfield Mall, California’s first enclosed shopping mall, the reinvigorated site is named after its proximity to a Caltrain station. The property boasts 500,000 sf of ready-built offi...

1265 Borregas

In recent years, mass timber has surged in popularity, combining the unique ability to sequester carbon in a building’s frame with exceptional structural and aesthetic value. For Google’s first mass timber building in Sunnyvale, SWA partnered with a multidisciplinary team to extend these principles into the surrounding landscape, creating a unified identity be...

Alipay Headquarters

The new the Hangzhou Alipay Headquarters is located between the Xi Xi wetlands and downtown Hangzhou, a city renowned for its rich culture and beautiful landscapes. Hills and small mountains surround the headquarters building in three directions, and in the fourth lies downtown Hangzhou. Three landscape “movements” derived from openings in the building direct ...

Symantec Chengdu

SWA provided landscape design for Symantec’s research and development complex. The site was previously inactive and banal until SWA’s design reinvigorated the area, linking the building program and connecting the site to the larger city. The landscape design produces a “brocade,” weaving together the building and site program, and offering an oasis amid the de...

East Evelyn Avenue

301-381 East Evelyn Avenue is home to a uniquely preserved architectural example of 1980s office park design. The aim of this project is to retrofit this suburban office campus into a diverse, connected, and urban environment. SWA approached the site from the same perspective as that taken for successful urban neighborhoods. A hierarchy of outdoor realms organ...