trade center for i principi d'italia by MDU architetti

‘i principi d’italia’ by MDU architetti, quanjiao, anhui, chinaall images courtesy of MDU architetti

continuous connections between china and italy began in the 13th century with the voyage of marco polo and the subsequent fictionalization of his travels in ‘ il milione.’ for the italian trade center ‘i principi d’italia’, MDU architetti sought to make manifest the tectonic complexities of venetian architecture within the dense urbanity of china. the architectural expression of this historical encounter finds its concept in the idea of voyage and narration, and is directly materialized in an intricate, welded lattice facade that is at once light-emitting and shading. the whole structure is conceived as a city, sporting a variety of public piazzas and small ‘campielli’, characteristically italian narrow streets. the constant presence of water is the starting point for a meditation that immediately evokes the water-towns of the jiangnan region as well as venice. spatially, the building is organized around a public square and park delimited by the carefully composed transparent screen that clads choice areas of the soaring form. traditional chinese curving lattice-work and venetian medieval stone frames informed the lace of the exterior skin. 

a view through the trees shows the soaring form

the business of the city frames the tower

construction views display the complex lattice cladding 

the building skin recalls the curving patterns of chinese screens and venetian medieval stone work

the facade

construction view 

glazing is offset from the shading screen  

the building envelope is at once light-admitting and protective  

view down the portico

city views through the lace-like skin 

workers haul one of the welded, lattice-like facade on site 

working view shows the welded pieces at full scale 

detail view of the facade in progress

the models

project info:

project name: italian trade center “i principi d’italia”program: trade center, office tower, residential towerclient: xu quiu lin_giulin group brancharchitects: mdu architetti (valerio barberis, alessandro corradini, cristiano cosi, marcello marchesini)collaborators: eugenio salvetti, dante vinciguerralocal partner: design institute zhe jiang jing jian