New York-based firm OLI Architecture Completes Ascentage Pharmaceutical Headquarters in Suzhou, China

The design of this new 147,000m2 campus reflects both Ascentage’s identity and its aspirations for the future.

Suzhou, China — Designed by New York-based OLI Architecture, Ascentage Pharmaceutical Headquarters is a new 147,000m2 campus in Suzhou, China. The young Hong Kong-listed pharmaceutical company sought a campus that reflects the cutting-edge Biotechnology research it is performing, including developing cancer drugs to improve the lifestyles of a future generation afflicted with diseases once thought untreatable or incurable.

The program for Ascentage Pharma includes seven buildings, created to house R&D and manufacturing, that are elevated above a glass base in a floating composition over a black granite clad reflecting pool facing Xinqing Road. Sitting at the intersection of the busy southwest corner of the site on Xinqing Road is the striking 80-meter tall R&D Administration Building. Located in close proximity to a new mass transit subway station, this building serves as the new symbol of Ascentage, a sign of progress and advancement for employees, passers-by and beyond.

The design for the campus is inspired by the benzene ring of the chemical formula used to annotate the planar bonds of the six carbon and hydrogen molecules. The façades for the seven buildings employ the benzene ring hexagon as its source form, which is then engineered to fold parametrically, bonding around the seven different building volumes. Each features discrete curvilinear shapes, organic in nature, that coalesce into a contemporary complex that is both open and cohesive. Attention is given to creating an optimal balance of visual transparency and privacy, with a focus on offering ample diffuse natural light.

Technologically advanced digital design and fabrication tools were employed to realize this state-of-the-art campus. For instance, the parametrically modeled facades were created using adaptive BIM families, and were then digitally fabricated from Ultra High Strength Concrete panels and anodized aluminum.

Hiroshi Okamoto, co-founder and Principal at OLI, remarks: “Located in a growing high-tech science and technology center outside of historic Suzhou city, the design of this campus required balancing the creation of varied programmed buildings, each with individual character and scale, with an overarching sense of coherence. The design is inspired by the innovative work in molecular sciences of the thriving new pharmaceutical company as well as traditional Suzhou gardens, with the building volumes orientated to appear to float above the black Shanxi granite reflecting pool.”

About OLI Architecture
Founded by Hiroshi Okamoto and Bing Lin in 2010, OLI Architecture specializes in civic and cultural building design, museography, exhibition, education, healthcare, and custom residential design. Based in New York, with offices in Shanghai and Paris, the firm has extensive international experience, working in collaboration with various clients and municipalities, bringing their vision to fruition through singular architectural environments. Its award-winning projects range in both typology and scale, from the site-specific LX Pavilion, designed to house Richard Serra’s London Cross sculpture in New York; to Symphony Orthodontics, a private healthcare facility in Virginia, to the MuXin Art Museum in Jiaxing, China. With a vision towards the future, accompanied by a vast disciplinary understanding of the built environment, and respect of the specific cultural parameters of each project, OLI crafts unique buildings that meet the aspirations of clients, stakeholders, and the detailed requirements of the future occupants. Learn more at http://www.oliarch.com/en/home.