Saudi developer Dar Al Arkan opens office in China to drive global growth
Dar Al Arkan, the leading real estate company in Saudi Arabia, continues its dynamic growth momentum by announcing the opening of its office in Beijing, China. The announcement is in line with the Dar Al Arkan’s strategic expansion and builds on spreading the leading Saudi Arabian brands globally.
Dar Al Arkan’s Beijing office will serve multiple functions to allow for joint ventures between Dar Al Arkan and leading Chinese real estate developers for the Chinese and the Saudi market, further increasing and facilitate collaboration between Saudi Arabia and China and enhance investment and knowledge sharing opportunities. The office will primarily promote cooperation and partnerships within the real-estate and technology sectors to exchange and implement global best practices in these respective industries
Dar Al Arkan recently appointed Guo Jiancheng as General Manager for Dar Al Arkan’s office in Beijing to lead the company’s operations in China. Following the announcement Jiancheng commented: “Over its 27-year history in Saudi Arabia Dar Al Arkan has pioneered a distinctive approach to development, introduced new technologies, and raised the benchmark for the real-estate and technology sectors in the Kingdom. With this expertise and industry know-how, the company is well-positioned to take this knowledge and creativity to a global level and promote it as best practice. By entering into the Chinese market, Dar Al Arkan is also well positioned to enhance relations between the Kingdom and China across multiple fronts.”
Dar Al Arkan’s office will act as a hub to support Chinese companies and investors seeking expansion, company formation and investment opportunities in the Kingdom. By providing access to required information, permits, legal and financial knowledge, as well as support on partnerships and other requirements, Dar Al Arkan is making entry into the Kingdom more accessible.
Likewise, the office will support Saudi Arabian companies to explore expansion opportunities and gain entry into the Chinese market. Furthermore, will encourage other areas for mutual collaboration, especially in tourism and cultural exchanges.
Starting in 2021, Dar Al Arkan has embarked on a global expansion drive starting with the announcement of its Sidra project in Bosnia last March, followed by the launch of two luxury co-branded towers in the United Arab Emirates in collaboration with luxury fashion brand, Missoni, and hypercar manufacturer, Pagani Automobili, respectively. The company also announced expansion into the Qatari and Omani markets through premium residential and commercial projects.
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In Pictures: Showroom Complex in China by Studio DOTCOF
A corporate showroom that is unlike spaces such as art galleries or museums that are directly open to the public, and is mainly used for receiving clients or partners related to the enterprise’s business. A showroom is often relatively big and isolated. At times when no reception is happening it often lays vacant, and its use efficiency is fairly low.
Employing the concept of the Showroom Complex, Studio DOTCOF has designed the head office showroom on Xiupu Rd in Shanghai for Yanfeng Automotive Interiors. It incorporates such spaces as an art gallery, a square, a theatre, a restaurant, and a cafe to give the visitor a more complex and diversified spatial experience.
The art gallery is where unique products are displayed. The design adopts an arch to emphasise the towering characteristic of the space and to bring out the beauty of the exhibits.
The square serves as the transitional space between the main exhibition hall and the rest of the space. It is mainly used to display mass-produced products and is also the place where multiple traffic flows converge. The designer created a totally open space to allow people to gather, and some of the exhibits can be shown on weekdays.
The theatre space is used for product releases, seminars, and events, etc. The large sliding doors on both sides of the big screen can be opened when an event is over, connecting the adjacent cafe and restaurant spaces. These two spaces are ideal for breaks and informal talks before and after official visits, and here visitors can stop to enjoy coffee and snacks.
Photo credit: Chen Hao
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10 Design completes Wide Horizon Clubhouse in China
Inspired by the natural mountains and lush topography of the immediate Chongqing context, Wide Horizon Clubhouse by 10 Design sits proudly on the top of a hill like a sculpture with its lower levels cascading down the hillside.
The clubhouse, a circa 9,000sqm building spread across five floors, is located on a steeply sloped hillside adjacent to the main entrance of a new residential development. The clubhouse will act as a main gateway into the new development and was designed as a dynamic pairing with a future office tower adjacent to the site.
Barry Shapiro, Asia Managing Partner, comments: “We are delighted to see that our design for the Wide Horizon Clubhouse has come to fruition. The new clubhouse has become not only a new symbol of a wider development but also a new icon in Chongqing. Its strong, dynamic forms and materials have helped to make the building an object of art itself, in addition to the exhibitions within.”
Designed as a space to host community events and social gatherings, the clubhouse is organised around a multi-storey grand atrium that opens up towards the residential scheme. This large, light filled atrium links all main functions together and serves as a reception and exhibition hall. The lower levels provide leisure and wellness amenities including an indoor pool, gym, and children’s play areas. All spaces have direct connection to external terraces to provide views and access to the surrounding landscape.
The exterior of the main building is designed with unique forms and materials. Sitting on top of the hill, the three-storey glass volume is wrapped with a lightweight, screened façade. The screened façade is comprised of angled and perforated metal plates to capture and reflect light, creating a sense of wave-like movement. These plates are attached to the main structure through a lightweight steel skeletal framework that helps frame views and balances a sense of openness versus privacy.
Underneath the main sculptural metal and glass volume, a series of solid aluminum terraces step down the hillside to create a strong base for the main volume. These terraces are designed to ground the building and create a strong relationship to the natural landscape. The terraces also allow the interior spaces within to open up towards the amazing views of the surrounding river valley.
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In Pictures: Courtyard Xiaoya in China by Da Xiang Design Studio
The transition of the city is a complicated process. Along with the old memories gradually gone, new emotions are constantly being generated. When production breaks through itself and has more connections with life, the vision of the garden will continue.
The project is located in the Xucun Industrial Zone, Haining, Jiaxing, in which the architect built an elegant courtyard on the roof of a factory and named it Xiaoya. In this courtyard, the functions of reception, catering, and office are combined. And it has broken through the single working mode and expanded the breadth and depth of life.
How to deal with the relationship between architecture and environment has to be the first research focus of the design. The place is adjacent to the main road of the city, and there are many self-built houses in the surrounding countryside. So the designer uses green plants as walls to shield from the noise on the road and disorder of vision, which has embodied the concept of oriental gardens by modern garden methods and created an atmosphere of being in the city but like a wild place.
They utilise the natural sightline deviations of the roof platform to balance the surrounding axis, and the phototaxis of the biological instinct to allow the viewer to do the natural selection. The architecture is opened, and the interior and exterior spaces are infiltrated with each other, both spacious and enclosed.
The corridor design overlaps with the tourist line, which leads the free ramble mode to become an opportunity for interaction between people and the site. The delight of the stroll is the purpose of the landscape design. It is expected that people will walk barefoot. With the changes in texture and temperature of wood, stone, rock, and sand, they will touch the nerves of the footsteps, during which people will return to purity.
In the eyes of Mies Van Der Rohe, the barrier is no longer the antonym of the transparent but creates one more space and one more possibility. Inspired by this, the corridors twist and turn volatile and extend in the open backyard of Xiaoya, where the white wall penetrates into the field of vision, but part of the landscape emerges from behind, and the geometric espalier hides the end of the corridor and played a “Cloze Play Thinks” with the brain.
There are two water courtyards. The central one takes a view of the sky and takes the water as a mirror. The shadow is refracted into the restaurant and meeting room, and the fold-up water landscape continues to extend indoors.
In The Book of Songs·Xiaoya·Deer Bell, stirred up the feelings by deer bell and eating grass. It shows the way of hospitality and the mind to entertain the guests, by utilizing which the designer creates a resonance between people and space. The squeezing and dislocation of the building create a series of wonderful corner spaces. Behind the “cloudy pine forest” painting that landed like a screen in the lobby was a small deer that came out of the probe.
The elements of the grille are used one after another in the place. Make space becomes an alienated sundial and combines the sunlight. Mottled shadows which change along with the time, like clouds and fog, like electric light, which lets the “rime” sway and flow.
Xiaoya uses the concept of oriental gardens to create a western garden landscape that incorporates geometric patterns, vegetation, architecture, and water features, etc, which uses simple cubes to summarize the combination of the natural stones laying, cascade and the fold-up of the sceneries, which forms a unified visual element.
In the meeting room, the view is divided by vertical walls. Then the view of the left eye is a spacious outdoor space, and the right is an enclosed meeting space. The view outside the window of the living room in the lounge area is cleverly reflected by the mirror to the dining person, which makes the water courtyard, pine, and the bamboo in the corners outside the window all visible to the eye.
When the sky gets a bit dark, you can see the interior through the light and shadow on the glass, and see the opposite view through the rear window, which is mellow and interesting.
Photo credit: © Haha Lu
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In pictures: Jingdezhen Imperial Kiln Museum in China by Studio Zhu-Pei
Located in the centre of the historical area, the site of the Museum is adjacent to the Imperial Kiln ruins surrounding many ancient kiln complexes. The project is by Studio Zhu-Pei.
Jingdezhen is known as the “Porcelain Capital” in the world because it has been producing pottery for 1,700 years. In the Ming and Qing dynasties, Jingdezhen exported a huge amount of porcelains to Europe.
Jingdezhen was growing naturally fitting in the valleys surrounding rivers, hills, and mountains because of the porcelain industry. The early settlements of the city developed around kiln complexes which included kiln, workshops, and housing. The street pattern was generated by nature and the porcelain industry. Most of the small alleys in between kiln complexes have always approached the Chang river in order to transport porcelain products to the river. The main streets have always been along with Chang river to bring all businesses and commerces together.
Public
Situated on a fairly restricted historical area adjacent to the east side of the Imperial Kiln ruins, the plan of the Imperial Kiln Museum was aligned with the north-south street grid of Jingdezhen. With its entry, water pools, and bridge facing west, embracing the open file of Imperial Kiln Ruins to welcome visitors from Imperial Kiln Relic Park. Public pedestrians can wander through the forest under the green canopy, going through the bridge, flowing into the foyer of the museum.
Concept
The Imperial Kiln Museum comprises more than half a dozen brick vaults base on the traditional form of the kiln, each of the vaults is of a different size, curvature, and length. They were naturally applied to the site, carefully integrated with many existing ruins including a few ruins that were found after the construction.
The unparalleled, liner, and arched structures of the museum, like old kilns, reach below the level of the street to not only give the flexibility to adapt itself into the complicated site, but also to achieve the intimate scale of interior space. This strategy – in part also as a response to the height of surrounding historical buildings – leads to productive ambiguity in relation to the building’s horizontal datum. The “insertion” of the building into the ground of the site produces a series of public spaces at street level. More importantly, it allows for the design of a number of more intimate open vaults, and courtyards within the museum. Most of those public spaces are covered under shaded and are protected from the rain because it is hot and it rains a lot during summer in Jingdezhen. One of those open spaces, two open vaults sited in both ends, will also reveal the traces of the historic fabric on the site
Structure and Materials
The architect was fascinated by local ancient kiln tectonic and material. Looking in the past, craftsmen built the brick kiln without scaffolding in a very special way. Thin and light brick kiln achieved a maximum interior space with minimum materials, the brick kilns appeared in organic forms reflecting heat flow from one end to another. The basic structure of the museum is an arch structure system, it is made up of concrete poured in between two layers of masonry brick walls. There is a small arch to be layout perpendicularly to connect two arches.
Using recycled kiln bricks to build houses and all kinds of buildings is a significant character in Jingdezhen because brick kilns have to be demolished every two or three years in order to keep a certain thermal performance of the kilns. The entire city was covered by recycled kiln bricks. Those bricks record warmth and are inseparable from the lifeblood of the city. In the past, the children would take a warm brick from the firing kilns to place in their schoolbags to keep themselves warm the whole day during freezing winter.
Natural light
Even the light evokes active and tangible memories and is the proof of how ancient techniques can be reinterpreted and reread in a contemporary key. The interior natural light is achieved by both skylight and sunken courtyard and is inspired by smoke holes of the ancient brick kiln. The skylight in the hollow cylinder shape is distributed on the top part of the arch to provide natural light during daytime and artificial light at night time.
Photo credit: Tian Fangfang
Zaha Hadid announces the design of 2 Murray Road, Hong Kong, China
Located in the heart of Hong Kong’s central business district, the 36-storey Murray Road project for Henderson Land replaces a multi-storey car park to create an urban oasis adjacent to Chater Garden within a short walking distance to both Central and Admiralty MTR metro stations.
With its base elevated above the ground to shelter courtyards and gardens cultivated with trees and plants in the centre of one of the world’s busiest cities, the design creates new civic plazas that are enveloped by nature.
Echoing the organic forms of the natural world; the redevelopment connects with the adjacent public gardens and parks. These tranquil outdoor areas flow into the generous communal spaces of the interior; the craftsmanship and precision of the curved glass façade enhancing this seamless connectivity between the building’s interiors and the surrounding gardens and city beyond.
The design reinterprets the structural forms and layering of a Bauhinia bud about to blossom. Known as the Hong Kong orchid tree, the Bauhinia x blakeana was first propagated in the city’s botanic gardens above the Murray Road site and its flowering bud features on Hong Kong’s flag.
At the core of the city’s financial district, the project is situated at the east-west / north-south junction of Hong Kong’s network of elevated pedestrian walkways; connecting directly with surrounding gardens, shops and restaurants as well as the offices of leading financial and civic institutions.
A high-tensile steel structure provides very wide span (up to 26m) of naturally lit, column-free, Grade A office space with a 5 metre floor-to-floor height giving maximum flexibility; its vertical core located on the eastern side of the building to optimise views of Chater Garden and the city’s renowned skyline to the west.
Working with the Henderson Land and Arup’s Building Sustainability Team, the design has achieved LEED Platinum and WELL Platinum pre-certification together with the highest 3-Star rating of China’s Green Building Rating Program. The design, procurement and construction targets full certification at occupancy.
The building’s smart management system creates a contactless pathway for all occupants from the street to their workstation that eliminates direct contact with communal surfaces and includes AI-assisted lift controls. Using a mobile phone, contactless smart card or biometric recognition, occupants can enter the building and pass security, call lifts to their office floor and access other zones such as lounge areas and washrooms.
Arranged for access on multiple levels, the large double-height foyer at ground level welcomes staff and visitors with its interplay of natural light, planting and organic forms leading up to the second floor public lobby on the city’s elevated walkway network. Suspended above the canopy of its surrounding tress, the sculptural glass façade of this expansive lobby defines a variety of nested spaces, each refined for purpose and experience.
With construction works beginning last year and its procurement targeting embodied carbon reductions as well as the use of recycled materials, 2 Murray Road looks to the future with the integration of advanced design, construction and operational technologies.
10 Design wins competition to redevelop the Nanjing Dajiaochang Airport, China
10 Design unveils winning scheme for China Fortune’s 243,768sqm contemporary mixed-use destination as part of the wider redevelopment of an old military airport in Nanjing, China.
The initial scheme envisions three interconnecting buildings linked by a sunken street, incorporating office, retail, and cultural spaces. Adjacent to a Chinese history museum on one side and a shopping mall on the other, this mixed use project will run parallel to the remaining runway, which has been kept in its original form as a historic feature.
Jointly led by two Design Partners, Chin Yong Ng and Lukasz Wawrzenczyk, the re-development has been designed with the central theme of echoing the past whilst reflecting the future for the city of Nanjing. This important commercial asset will provide the city with a new cosmopolitan landmark; and in parallel, it responds to the cultural richness of its landscape.
With two underground railway stations embedded into the site, connectivity is one of the key design drivers. The design includes a central corridor positioned directly on top of one of the railway tracks, providing a feature passageway for commuters to navigate through the three buildings.
The competition scheme also includes dual facades, with one facing the historic runway on a pedestrian scale and the other facing the city, with each side responding to its surroundings.
Central skylights with hallmark trees are placed across the buildings to bring natural light into the deeper levels. Atop of each building, a fully accessible rooftop garden will connect the lower floors with the outdoor space, blurring the distinction between interior and exterior throughout the mixed use destination.
The initial scheme also promotes sustainable initiatives, featuring a water plaza which collects water, a solar energy production area on the roof which generates energy to cool the building during the summer and a green environment so that plants can introduce purified air.
Nanjing was an ancient capital through six dynasties and the project reflects both this history and the future aspirations of the city. The feature runway will be enlivened throughout the year with cultural activities and will provide an attractive public space, of which China Fortune’s redevelopment will be the backdrop.
Lukstudio creates a dialogue between the nature and the purpose of a place for Shikaku Restaurant, China
As our world has awakened to its environmental impacts of food delivery, conscientious urbanites seek more sustainable options. Shikaku is a concept born out of this demand. Imagine a chef’s table dining experience at your doorstep; with the use of recyclable bento boxes, there is no guilt of using single-use containers or cutleries. The model combines a quest for quality and environmental stewardship into a convenient meal that’s comparable to home-cooking.
The first location of Shikaku , Huangpu Qu, China is a central kitchen equipped with about 20 seats, allowing dine-in and events. The given site is on the 3rd floor of a mid-rise building along the tree-lined Huashan Road. A series of bay windows comprise the west facade with brise-soleil in front. The view of lush tree canopies, together with dramatic daylight gives the existing site its unique calming atmosphere. In response to the site characteristics and the brand’s operational rigor in practicing a green dining model, Lukstudio explored how to express gentleness with precision in a compact space.
The foyer design is a nod to the tradition of Japanese hospitality. A small zen garden, a light-softening shoji screen, and a stone path of different textures welcome guests into a curated version of nature. Instead of the common use of a wooden frame, the screen is a continuation of the stainless steel ceiling grille, a feature throughout the site signifying the industrial purpose of the place and giving a sense of order.
The original bay windows are transformed into seating niches. Inspired by how a bento box is divided into partitions of various delicacies, each white niche is equipped with a set of wooden furniture, accommodating either individuals, a pair, or a group of diners. A curved wall of perforated panels – partially opens in front of the existing windows – hides the frames and captures one singular focal view. Through the brise-soleil and the gradient perforation, natural light comes in different forms, casting strips or sparkles as the day passes.
More details await at the back of the room. The omnipresent industrial ceiling grille transforms into an ornate screen of gradient intervals. A reflective panel centered above the main dining table mirrors subtle hues of the outside green or the colourful food below, adding an ephemeral spectacle. In the display corner, selected accessories are backlit by soft daylight through translucent glass backing. The shelving in front of the window can slide on a track and hide the existing window from view. Each unit is a galvanised steel frame where wooden boards are held by rack support, fitting in like kitchen equipment.
To offset the cold and inhibiting quality of stainless steel, forms are articulated in different sheens to give a delicate impression. Wooden accents such as recycled flooring, furniture, and door handle are all crucial in achieving a sensual balance. For a quiet ambiance, acoustic absorbent materials are installed behind the perforated panels to reduce noise and reverberation in a working kitchen.
Photo credit: Peter Dixie for LOTAN Architectural Photography
WJ DESIGN reconstructs the office space with simple lines in China
LINGDI Office project by WJ DESIGN is located in Hangzhou Zancheng Center, Hangzhou, China, a building with a square structure. It is close to the Qiantang River in the South, which attracts many famous international companies to settle in for office.
The simple colour block and space are separated by the use of design. Customisation materials make the large space not have a strong sense of regional function. Creating a relaxing and comfortable space, just like the comfortable wearing feeling brought by the high-end cutting materials so it will not feel constrained, but detached and comfortable.
At the entrance, white is used for development, and only the simplest lines are used for decorating the wall. Every visitor can feel extreme purity when entering the space for the first time. The combination of white walls and projection makes the entrance space more modern and professional, and also offers the entrance space with different visual levels.
Different from the traditional office space, the entrance chooses the setting of no lobby and no entertainment. Subtraction in the space can make the whole office space more complete. Simple line decoration can be used for spacing, which has the function of separation and no rigid wall spacing. It makes space have more simplicity. It seems to be a simple quilting decoration on the clothing, which is orderly from the far view and close to the view elaborate low-key design.
The use of new and old materials also makes space collide with a new visual atmosphere, just like the use of different materials in clothing, splicing out various collocations.
As a dual attribute of office and exhibition hall, harmony between both spaces is indispensable. The simplicity of color is set up to matching clothing and cloth, and the office area also provides more possibilities for daily work.
In the fabric exhibition area, the designer chooses the simplest lines for combination. The vision of the space is clean and simple. The design of lighting also makes the delicate materials and clothing displayed incisively and vividly.
In the river view area, the designer has made new planning and integration for the functionality of the area, making the use of the area space more relaxing. The sofa, carpet, single chair, texture, and color complement each other. The designer hopes that every user will have a kind of leisure and comfortable mood. When the weather is good, people can look out and the river is sparkling. Natural and cultural atmosphere express in the space between ships.
The small coffee box in the space breaks the past that the tea area is separate from the main space. The embedded small coffee and tea bar make time to enjoy a cup of coffee or tea more relaxed and adds a little sense of daily life and interest to the afternoon tea in the working time every day.
Simple things can often offer people more feelings in detail. While space has its own identification degree, it also solves the complex feelings brought by the environment. A new space is playing its infinite potential.
Photo credit: XUE Yutao
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