ARCHITECTURAL FOCUS
operational spaces for them.”— Yongzheng Li. Machines form the core of industrial architecture. Their functional precision, efficiency, rationality, and logic collectively manifest human intelligence, creating a unique aesthetic experience. Guided by this‘ machine aesthetics’ philosophy, we reinterpreted the plant’ s machinery as refined‘ artworks’.
Inspired by the suspense of an‘ art unveiling ceremony’— when anticipation and excitement peak— the architectural form captures this climactic moment. The upper facade adopts a soft, dynamic form resembling a lifted‘ curtain’, revealing the internal machinery as‘ exhibits’ through transparent glass walls to visiting publics. The main entrance features a symmetrical layout with tapered proportions, creating a solemn ceremonial feel as it leads into the‘ sanctuary of machines’.
03. Details: Technical Realization of Design Concepts- The‘ curtain’ on the upper facade employs a bold fixed glazing system, cascading downward through six stepped layers. Horizontally overlapping scalelike glass panels create fabric-like folds. The‘ scales’ use pale green fritted glass with dot-matrix mirror coatings, superimposing strong and weak reflections to project surroundings onto the facade with a‘ screen-printed’ texture, generating psychedelic light interplay.
The podium utilizes a double-skin facade balancing window flexibility and elevation integrity. The inner skin serves as a climate barrier with aluminum and glass curtain walls, incorporating functional requirements. The outer skin features semi-enclosed aluminum claddings meeting fire evacuation and ventilation needs. Triangular folded plates form rhythmic undulations with alternating light / shadow, echoing textile textures. The 110-meter-high chimney, the site’ s pinnacle, is clad in quadrangular pyramidshaped aluminum panels with localized perforations to create spiraling ascending lines, imbuing sacred monumentality.
04. Summary: From Serving Production to Beautifying Life- Before the project’ s 2019 commencement, the site was an ecologically degraded, eroded abandoned quarry. After five years of transformation, it has become Central China’ s largest circular economy industrial park, generating regenerative impacts on surrounding nature. As the park’ s centerpiece, the main plant’ s design reflects openness toward wasteto-energy processes and confidence in industrial machine aesthetics. By infusing architectural values, the facility and its machinery gain warmth, transcending industrial architecture from‘ serving production’ to‘ beautifying life’.
• Architects: United Units Architects
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• Area: 54000 m ²
• Year: 2025
• Photographs: Archi-Translator
• Lead Architects: Yongzheng Li, Qizhi Li, Tim Mason
• Main Contractor: China Construction Third Engineering Bureau
www. u-u-a. com
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