INDUSTRIAL BUILDING TRANSFORMED INTO GREENHOUSE GARDEN

Text description provided by the architects. The zeitgeist has shifted towards recognising nature as the essential basis of our living environment. And nature has also moved to the heart of architecture. In recent years, as it has repeatedly addressed the specific task of greenhouse design, Delugan Meissl Associated Architects (DMAA) has developed extensive technical and cultural know-how.

With a population of 23 million, the megacity of Shanghai is the focal point of China's urban and international development. The sparsely inhabited industrial suburb of Pudong has become home to one of Asia's most spectacular high-rise skylines, at the heart of which the Expo Cultural Park is situated. But the Shanghai Region is also directly threatened by the consequences of unlimited growth and climate change. Given biting smogs, water shortages and rising temperatures, the country's leaders are looking for solutions that take the form of radical largescale steps – steps that should not only preserve natural habitats but also steer China's technological and economic efforts in a sustainable direction.

Before its transformation into the Expo Cultural Park, the inner-city recreational area was occupied by a coal-fired power plant and a steelworks. It was then remodeled as the location for Expo 2010. As part of the project for the new Greenhouse Garden, the steel structure of a former industrial hall was used as a geometrical superstructure that was then enhanced by organically shaped pavilions. The twin dualities of industry and nature and tradition and future mark the historical turning point at which Shanghai now finds itself. The municipal administration's decision to refunction such a huge, centrally-located piece of land as a high-quality leisure area offers clear evidence of the overall trend towards the more intense planting of the core urban zones of Shanghai, one of the largest cities in the world with a subtropical climate.

As greenhouses generally consume large amounts of energy, one particular aim of this project was to create a zero-energy building. This was achieved by the use of single glazing – a choice based on simulative calculations that showed that double glazing would be less energy efficient due to the fact that the reduction in heat loss would be more than canceled out by the impact of the artificial lighting required by the plants. Opening windows in the perforated roof can be adjusted to permit the natural ventilation and passive cooling that creates the optimal climate for the specific plants. A pool adjacent to the pavilions not only provides cooling but also supplies energy to the greenhouse from PV panels that are located just below its surface.

The first pavilion recreates the radical aridity of the desert, with a sandy and rocky landscape that embodies the home of plants that can withstand drought yet are threatened by extinction in every continent. In contrast, the second pavilion contains the tropical vegetation of the rainforest, while the vertical flower gardens of the final pavilion offer space for traveling exhibitions. The terrace above the pavilions offers an overview of the entire park and the buildings that form the edge of the surrounding urban fabric. Between the three pavilions and the entrance building, and below the listed steel structure, a large circulation space integrates the project into the surrounding nature.

The network of pathways within and between the greenhouses generates new qualities. By actively exploring this network, visitors pass through each spatial sequence, experiencing a targeted interaction with the built substance. Glazed parapets reveal these guests while gentle gradients speed up or slow down their progress.

The variation in water levels between the desert and the tropical vegetation is taken from nature, while also offering a global political perspective due to the questions about the future availability of water that are being raised by climate change. In this way, the organically undulating form of the facade becomes a leitmotif for not only the internal organization but also the new adaptable relationship between humans and nature.

Location Pudong, China
Architects Delugan Meissl Associated Architects
Photography CreatAR Images