Hangzhou international expo center

Hangzhou International Expo Center is the largest, most influential, most complex and most clear cultural appeal project among the many excellent exhibition buildings that Foster has served over the years. It is one of the projects that create learning and accumulate in the course of Foster 's design.

Since 2012, Foster has established cooperation with China Construction Eighth Engineering Division, which is responsible for providing consulting services for the whole process of facade curtain wall design, bidding support, construction quality and schedule management for Hangzhou International Expo Center. Firth was fortunate to participate in the construction of this project, witnessed the rise of this magnificent main venue, we are very proud.

The design of the venue has both Jiangnan implication and modern simplicity. A surging line is wrapped in the east-west direction of the building, looking far away, like a ribbon swaying over the city. While creating an architectural atmosphere, it also provides a good shelter condition and forms a natural shading barrier.

▲  " City Living Room " Outdoor panorama

Among them, the spherical " city living room " with a diameter of 60 meters is impressive for the luncheon of the head of state at the G20 summit. Magnificent circular space, a large area of glass lighting, the dome in the middle of the starry sky ; the central ring is a natural skylight to illuminate the interior space, and the outer ring is a five-ring closed and superimposed ink landscape scroll, making the leaders feel like they are in nature when dining.

▲  " City Living Room " Interior Side

From the outside of the room, it can be seen that there is a circle of white areas on the top of the " city living room, " and its indoor space hides mystery. Through the LED screen body and design, combined with the interior ceiling, it creates a unique visual experience for the interior space. At the same time, because it covers the entity, it provides another shading condition for the top of the sphere.

In the bottom area of the " city living room, " also taking into account the overall building shading performance, an aluminum alloy circular tube with a diameter of 35 mm is arranged inside the glass as an indoor shading component, while enriching the building level. The  sphere glass is hollow LOW-E glass. The glass itself has a certain shading performance, plus the bottom shading grille, the top indoor entity ceiling and the external ribbon shading, which perfectly realizes the combination of architectural function and effect.

▲  " City living room " outside the room

The selection and application of the facade materials of the exterior wall of the project are very distinctive. The exterior wall facing materials include hollow Low-E glass, double-layer hollow Low-E glass curtain wall, clay plate and clay louver, different shapes of curved metal aluminum veneer and roof waterproof aluminum magnesium metal plate, smooth line corrugated plate and so on.

▲  Exterior facade real scene

The application of many modern building materials reflects the smooth, exquisite and smooth lines of modern buildings in texture design. The use of high-permeability and shading hollow Low-E glass not only conforms to the concept of energy-saving and environmental protection green building design, but also improves the building quality.

▲  Exterior facade real scene

In addition, the " external shading system " is widely used in the project, and various materials are selected for shading design.

On the sunny side of the podium below 28 meters, a double-layer glass curtain wall is adopted. The outer layer is wind and rain proof, thermal insulation and sound insulation, and the inner layer further strengthens the thermal insulation function.

A perforated aluminum plate shading system is set between the glass curtain walls of 30 meters to 41 meters in the south facade.

Different density aluminum alloy louver shading systems are set on the outside of the western facade glass curtain wall.

The curved aluminum veneer shading system is set over the city living room, which greatly reduces the building energy consumption.

Set up a sunshade shed in the east and west lanes of the exhibition center.

Taking the super-large spherical curtain wall of the " City Living Room " as an example, the single-layer spherical reticulated shell structure has a spherical curtain wall area of 6436m2.Because of its special shape, high quality requirements and difficult construction, from design to construction, Firth and various cooperative units have completed the selection of the curtain wall system through a round of rounds, and finally completed the sphere composed of nearly 1200 triangular glass with high quality.

▲  Three-dimensional simulation diagram

The spherical curtain wall is located above the elevation of 45.8 meters of the exhibition roof, the lower part of the aluminum plate ribbon, the diameter reaches 60 meters, the top elevation of the ball is 86 meters, and nearly 1200 pieces of triangular glass are composed. The triangular glass is about 1.8 ~ 2.4 meters wide, 2.6 meters high triangular glass plate. From the design structure to the construction method, we have carried out a series of special process research.

In the system selection stage, the preliminary scheme is proposed to adopt the unit system design. By comparing the applicability of the unit type and the component type daylighting roof system here, the unit body uses the principle of equal pressure. When the air pressure in the unit cavity is equal to the outdoor air pressure, the water in the cavity can discharge the unit body in time. However, considering that many of the splicing joints of the plate are vertical upwards, it is impossible to discharge the water layer by layer under the action of gravity. The glass surface has a great hidden danger of water leakage, and it is not easy to collect condensed water. Therefore, it was finally decided to adopt the component-type lighting roof system.

▲  Node practice schematic

The on-site installation process adopts the construction sequence from inside to outside and from top to bottom. Through the supervision of the whole process of measurement and setting out, structural inspection, connector installation, adapter installation, aluminum alloy keel installation, glass panel installation, glue injection and closing, the construction quality is guaranteed by scientific organization and careful construction. The special spherical material transportation device is used to install two pieces of glass and install a pressure plate. The glass after installation remains flat and coordinated, which has an immediate effect on the construction period and cost.

The super-large spherical glass curtain wall on site adopts the curved surface fitting hoisting construction method, which effectively improves the installation efficiency of the spherical glass curtain wall in the living room of the project city and reduces the damage rate during the glass installation process.

▲  Curved surface fitting hoisting construction method

In order to cooperate with the on-site quality control, Firth specially dispatched the project team to serve the site, and participated in the on-site construction technology, quality and schedule management of the Hangbo external curtain wall project. In the process of construction, quality management is the most important thing. It is our duty to find and put forward problems in time, give risk tips and put forward reasonable solutions.

In the early stage of project construction, in order to better control the quality of the project and meet the needs of the owners, our consultant engineers intervened in the project earlier, from the entry of raw materials to the installation process, and carried out all-round curtain wall management related work. In addition, combined with the actual situation of the site, the work of cross-cooperation construction with the relevant units of the curtain wall is coordinated. Through the convening of thematic meetings, the project process is effectively promoted, and cooperation is strengthened. Under the premise of ensuring the quality of the project, the owner is assisted in an all-round way to ensure the rapid landing of the project.

In the construction process, we guide the curtain wall unit to monitor and implement the material selection, data preparation, inspection and inspection, etc., prepare the project weekly report and quality inspection report on time, timely discover and solve the practical problems encountered in the construction process, and escort the project quality.

From the beginning to the completion of the project, we have issued more than 300 documents, including quality weekly inspection reports, special inspection reports, quality monthly reports, etc., covering the curtain wall from the embedding of embedded parts to the completion of the panel. The report analysis of all project conditions has played a great role in the quality control of the project.

▲  Part of the contact single screenshot

In the design and construction stage of the project, the use of high-permeability and shading-type hollow Low-E glass not only conforms to the green building design concept of energy conservation and environmental protection, but also improves the building quality. At the same time, monocrystalline silicon photovoltaic glass is installed on the roof of the columnless hall, with a total power generation of 137 KW and a service life of more than 25 years, which complements the energy system of the exhibition hall.

After delivery, the exhibition operation and maintenance company continues to promote the concept of low-carbon environmental protection. Previously, the exhibition gathering here, the annual generation of all kinds of garbage 4000 tons. In order to promote the ' garbage source reduction ', the Expo Center has introduced an intelligent garbage classification system to conduct real-time statistical analysis of the amount of garbage generated in venues and hotel areas.

The countdown to the Asian Games in Hangzhou is 60 days, and the theme event of " no waste Asian Games " was held in Hangzhou International Expo Center. It is reported that the Hangzhou Asian Games will become the world 's first large-scale " no-waste " event, and the first " no-waste " event implementation guide was also released.

Walking into the squash hall of Hangzhou International Expo is a temporary reconstruction of the original 4D exhibition hall of Hangzhou International Expo Center, which maximizes the use of the original facilities and equipment and computer room of Hangzhou International Expo. In the selection of decoration materials, the synthetic recyclable materials, to the greatest extent, replace the use of natural marble, wood, etc., more green and environmentally friendly. By the end of the Asian Games, the venue will be dismantled in the fastest time to restore the original function of the exhibition hall.

▲  Hangzhou Guobo squash hall

On September 4-5,2016, the Hangzhou International Expo Center, located on the south bank of the Qiantang River, was unveiled as the main venue of the G20 Hangzhou Summit. With a high-quality image of grandness, calmness, elegance, warmth and transparency, the Hangzhou International Expo Center fully demonstrated the multiple impressions, local charm and calmness of Chinese civilization in front of heads of state and international media.

On September 23,2023, the 19th Asian Games will kick off in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province.Hangzhou International Expo Center will also carry the functions of the main media center, squash competition and training venues of the Hangzhou Asian Games, as well as the official reception hotel of the Asian Games.

In retrospect, each member of the project team was full of enthusiasm to participate in it, and the scene of finalizing the design to solve several major difficulties in the project was still vivid. On the occasion of the opening of the Hangzhou Asian Games, this paper only gives this classic and outdated project with this literature, and wishes the 19 th Asian Games in Hangzhou a complete success !