SANHE DISTRICT WASTE TREATMENT PLANT DESIGN

In 6 May 2019, AIA LIFE DESIGNERS won the SANHE DISTRICT WASTE TREATMENT PLANT DESIGN competition.

Project review

Sanhe is a county-level city under the jurisdiction of Langfang City, Hebei Province. It is located at the junction of Beijing and Tianjin and is separated from Beijing by only one river. It is the county-level enclave with the largest area and the highest administrative level in China. It is 30 kilometers away from Tiananmen Square in the west and 25 kilometers away from the Capital Airport in the northwest. It is known as the “Jingdong Pearl”. It is currently one of the most important projects of SUS Environment.

It is currently one of the most important construction programs of SUS ENVIRONMENT.

Design concept-Sky and earth

The design concept draws inspiration from the narration of "Heaven and Earth" in traditional Chinese culture. “Sky and earth, everything is born in-between them.” Everything is unity of opposites, and will be transformed in the opposite direction under certain conditions. There is also this symbiotic and transformational relationship between resources and waste. In particular, considering the project site is located in the suburbs on the eastern side of Beijing, adopting "Heaven and earth" concept throughout the design is more ceremonial and compatible with the environmental feature of the site.

The upper part corresponds to the sky. The two-dimensional geometric form is abstracted from the blue sky and white clouds. The skin is assembled from a combination of triangular perforated plates of different colors and perforations, which forms transparency, lightness and elegance of the sky. 

The lower part corresponds to the earth. The façade contour is abstracted from the natural form of earth, rocks and geological layers and the solid horizontal metal panels are affixed to each other to form the earth texture. At the same time, a number of horizontal window holes are opened on the façade to meet the use of internal functions while increasing the richness of the Earth's skin.

The landscape design uses the belt form which responds the building facade to connect the three elements of heaven, earth and people. The water reflects the blue sky, the green valley displays the extensivity of the earth and the plaza receives the flow of the public.