Houses, hotels, headquarters: the green generation of Chinese architecture

UK companies are helping cement China’s reputation for iconic, innovative architecture – from commercial headquarters to astonishing new homes.

Across China, the inventiveness of UK architects and designers is helping to create a new generation of green architecture.

This ranges from the highly energy efficient Nokia corporate hq, designed by Arup, to the jaw-dropping Waterworld Hotel in Shanghai, which saw Atkins nominated for a World Architectural Forum award.

But it’s not just about iconic projects. Cartwright Pickard Architects chose China as the first place to introduce its NovoHouse, a cost-effective solution to housing problems in developing countries. It consists of a pre-engineered lightweight steel frame that can be easily assembled on site by unskilled workers. The frame is earthquake, hurricane and flood resistant and can then be clad using local materials to provide affordable, sustainable housing.

Houses, hotels, headquarters: the green generation of Chinese architecture

The Bird’s Nest stadium transformed the global perception of contemporary Chinese architecture, but today it’s several UK designers and architects that are leading the development of a new green generation of buildings. From innovative housing designs to luxury hotels to corporate headquarters, UK-based businesses are broadening the horizons of the construction industry – and creating highly practical and energy efficient buildings at the same time.

One of the most well-known is Nokia’s China Campus, designed by Arup. It serves Nokia China’s HQ as well being an R&D hub for the company and is the first newly constructed commercial building in China to have been awarded a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED®) Gold Certificate by the United States Green Building Council.

It uses a glass façade, with a temperature-controlled cavity between the panes, to intelligently balance the sun’s natural heat and the building's air conditioning system, preventing the impact of outdoor temperatures being felt inside. Meanwhile skylights and a large communal atrium provide natural light and ventilation throughout the building, and a variety of water conservation mechanisms are in place. Together, these have resulted in a building that cuts water use by 37% and energy consumption by 20%.

Atkins are the brains behind The Waterworld in Songjiang (near Shangahi), a dramatic addition to the InterContinental chain of hotels. Located on a brownfield site – a former quarry – its design draws inspiration from the industrial heritage: the structure cascades down the rock face as a series of terraced landscaped hanging gardens with a central 90m tall vertical atrium, connecting the quarry base water level with the ground level above.

This serves a practical purpose as well as an aesthetic one: the quarry provides protection from the north winds, while the stable temperature of the lake at the bottom of the quarry helps keep hotel temperatures more stable and so reduces the demand for energy in heating or cooling. Natural light is maximised throughout and the site also uses both solar and geothermal energy sources.

The project was shortlisted for the World Architecture Festival Awards in 2009, and involved a team from Atkins’ Shanghai office working with experts at the company’s headquarters in Bristol, UK.

The NovoHouse is at the opposite end of the scale. Designed by Cartwright Pickard Architects as a practical solution to housing problems in developing countries, it is essentially a lightweight steel structure that can be used to quickly increase the availability of low-cost, permanent housing in both urban and rural areas. The steel frame can be created as prefabricated panels nearby and then assembled easily and swiftly on location by unskilled labourers. Though the steel structure is permanent – and importantly, solid enough to withstand earthquakes and cyclones - indigenous materials will be used to clad the dwellings, such as handmade mud bricks, straw bales, timber, or bamboo, providing a boost for the local market.

The NovoHouse was first demonstrated in Hongkou in Sichuan Provence, providing replacement dwellings for two farming families whose homes were damaged in the 2008 earthquake.