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PROJECT REPORT: TRANSPORT FACILITIES & PUBLIC REALM
The Idea Factory is
intended to be the keystone of the creative cluster of the Nantou masterplan, highlighting the three main goals of the local regeneration
‘urban village’ within the Shenzhen conurbation, dwarfed by the skyscrapers that surround it.
The Idea Factory is the largest project in a number of renovations proposed by developer Vanke, and as such it was key that the design not just maximise floor area and preserve aspects of the building’s history, but also that it represented this wider regeneration.
The twin axes of Nantou’s revitalisation are its two main roads that form a cross, splitting the city into four quadrants. Along these ‘arteries’ are concentrated the key historical and cultural artefacts and buildings of the area.
In the south-western quadrant, a “cultural and creative market” is planned, to “foster the themes of design and consumption.” In the north-eastern quadrant, a “creative factory” is planned, “where design and technology meet,” as the project’s designers put it. The Idea Factory is the main hub of this latter cluster, hoped to gather startups and young creative companies, and help them to flourish.
The wider context MVRDV has had a “long-standing professional relationship” with Vanke, and when 16 of its buildings within the neighbourhood were to be refurbished across these quadrants – including the Idea
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Factory – MVRDV were commissioned as one of a “renowned” group of international architects brought in to realise the plans. The Idea Factory is intended to be the “keystone” of the creative cluster within the Nantou masterplan, highlighting the three main goals of the local regeneration – the strengthening and giving value to the characteristics of the ancient city, the promotion of the neighbourhood as a key interconnected development within Shenzhen, and the promotion of cultural and creative activities.
Approaching the project from this wider context – MVRDV having been involved from the project’s inception, alongside local practice Bowan Architecture – the team had to not only achieve these characteristics, but do so with a “sensibility towards a sustainable and cost effective approach,” says MVRDV. According to Lorenzo Mattozzi, an Italian architect with over 17 years of international professional experience, and now associate at the practice and project leader of the Idea Factory, the practice has been involved from “concept to construction.” Despite this, he tells me that MVRDV only had a “minor” role in supervising construction and procuring materials, via its Shanghai branch. He explains that the practice was focused primarily on the
ADF OCTOBER 2022
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