Master planned and designed by LAGUARDA.LOW ARCHITECTS, Jining Cultural Industry Park is the third and final phase of the Jining Cultural Center. Located in the beautiful Taibai Lake New District of Jining, China, the ambitious project includes an elaborate commercial complex across an elevated park, Highland Park, from three iconic museums and a library. The complex is a series of volumes that rise gracefully into towers like peaks of a mountain range. The elevated park between commercial and cultural buildings is made of sinuous lines flowing from the park up over the towers like flowing water, seamlessly connecting the disparate programs on the site.
Jining Cultural Center is a key project in Shandong Province. In addition to the Cultural Industry Park designed by LAGUARDA.LOW, the project includes the Folk Art Museum designed by Tianjin Urban Planning Research Institute, the Jining Museum designed by Mario Botta, The Jining Art Museum designed by Ryue Nishizawa, and the Jining Library designed by He Jingtang. LAGUARDA.LOW’s winning competition entry for the third and final phase was based on the concept of High Mountains Flowing Water.
The program of Jining Cultural Industry Park consists of a retail mall, boutique hotels, four cultural and creative office buildings, two apartment buildings, and the aforementioned Highland Park, for a total GBA of 360,000 square meters. The seven high-rise towers are linked visually by a contoured continuous curve from north to south. The Highland Park brings harmoniously together the commercial complex and the four cultural buildings by means of an elevated pedestrian platform from west to east. The overall project brings a wide range of multi-level cultural, business, shopping, entertainment, and natural experiences to visitors in a magnificent new landmark that compliments the profound culture of the hometown of both Confucius and Mencius.
Masterplan and Landscape Plan
The master plan is not an accumulation of individual buildings, but rather a comprehensive design with opportunities for people to gather, to explore, and to be inspired.
A good master plan must carefully analyze the context, deliberate on the possibilities, and consider alternatives, particularly when such disparate program elements are involved. How does one design a unique cultural center master plan that includes all programmatic areas without alienating either or both the cultural buildings and mixed-use complex? How do public spaces and mixed-use buildings relate and interact with the individually developed cultural buildings? It is critical to develop a strong relationship between these four buildings, the mixed-use buildings, and the landscape itself. From those questions, the concept of "High Mountains Flowing Water” arose.
Our team studied and explored several options for the master plan that would incorporate all aspects of the program in a cohesive and harmonious manner. Ultimately, we decided that the Public Cultural Facilities group would be the focal point of the overall master plan. The development of retail, residential, hotel, and offices should be thought of as a backdrop, and landscape would be utilized as a complement to enhance the experience of the Cultural Buildings.
Since the project site is surrounded by many natural resources, creating a connection that strongly related to the existing context was essential. The first step in the design process was to make an intentional continuation of the water surface of Taibai Lake and “cover” the entire site with the texture of flowing water. Then, we defined the area of the main axis on the surface and raised that area to form the Highland Park. We developed linear strips of landscape running east to west throughout the site to form various instances of axial alignment. The east end of the site was raised to form an undulating towering “mountain” which became the mixed-use complex.
It was our clear intention to incorporate all programmatic elements without destroying or masking the “water surface”. Placement was key to evenly space each cultural building, while simultaneously balancing the mixed-use complex on the east side. From there, the “water surface” would fluctuate by pushing, pulling, and even wrapping the complex itself, so each gesture would create more powerful spaces and elements. After pushing and pulling the landscape and paving elements, a pedestrian spine and a series of public spaces were formed to allow throngs of visitors to easily navigate the site on an axial basis. As the landscape was developed, a series of neighborhoods and smaller plazas emerge like islands in the sea, allowing for more intimate spaces for visitors to experience.
The landscape design is an integral element that ties the cultural buildings and mixed-use buildings together. It enhances connections with intervening plazas, public spaces, and allows the user to navigate across the site with ease. The landscape brings a touch of beauty from nature whilst simultaneously allowing the integration of the elegant design of each building.
LAGUARDA.LOW’s approach to the master plan was to incorporate all aspects of the mixed-use program in a cohesive and harmonious manner, while maintaining the Public Cultural Facilities group as the main focal point. Part landscape and part architecture reinforces the cultural district as a public space for all to enjoy.
Architectural Design
The architectural design of Jining Cultural Industry Park emphasizes the integrity of appearance, the continuity of space, and the accessibility of the public. After raising the east end of the site, an undulating skyline using the metaphor of "mountain" is formed. Seven distinct towers emerge by slicing this curved volume. From north to south, the seven towers are a boutique hotel, four cultural and creative high-rise offices, and two service apartments. Four street retail units are scattered in between. All towers are designed with a unified style in terms of form and facade. The east-west landscape belt forms ramps that extend from the public road on the east side of the site to the Highland Park, which becomes a transitional outdoor landscape space and connects the entrances of each tower on the east side of the site, forming an organic whole of architectural space, landscaped ramps and civic corridors. The landscape and the west facades of all high-rise buildings are merged with vertical lines, forming a streamlined appearance.
Vehicular circulation of the Cultural Center is introduced through the main roads on the east and west side of the site to the parking lot below the Highland Park. It reduces the amount of excavation and also separates vehicular from pedestrian circulation. All towers have their own independent underground parking entrances and drop-offs. The Highland Park is the main pedestrian circulation running through the site from north to south. Visitors can enter the park through the main entrance at the north and south ends, the east-west landscaped pedestrian ramp, and via vertical circulation from the parking lot. Circulation throughout the project is straightforward and smooth and the beautiful landscape framed by the buildings is completely walkable.
Highland Park sets the tone for the overall landscape. There are five sunken plazas in Highland Park, including the main plaza on the west side of the Cultural and Creative City, and 4 small plazas in front of the west main entrances of the Cultural and Creative towers. Combined with the landscape arrangements of Highland Park and the layout of various green spaces and the outdoor environment provides visitors with an urban center rich with spatial diversity. Landscaped corridors, green spaces along the streets, lawns, pedestrian leisure facilities, greeneries and paving add vitality and natural interest to the core area of the project. The green area ratio on the ground level is 28.8%.
Humanistic works that bring the Past forward and usher in the Future
LAGUARDA.LOW’s ultimate goal for the new Jining Cultural Industry Park was to create a project that was thematically clear and compelling such that all disparate programmatic elements were tied together seamlessly. The final master plan provides both intimate and dynamic settings for a complete cultural experience, giving visitors ample reasons linger, relax, enjoy, and ultimately return again and again.
The design is based on solid, time-tested principles of rational planning that create humanistic habitations within vibrant mixed-use environments. The architecture of the center emerges from the carefully scrutinized plan and is thus an architecture of place and pleasure, a contemporary reinterpretation of the civic vernacular, learning from the past and applying the best of these lessons to the future.
