The Midea Global Innovation Park is located west of the Hongqiao Business District and is a major municipal project in Shanghai. The site is framed by large-scale infrastructures—including Hongqiao International Airport and the National Exhibition and Convention Center—as well as surrounding traditional residential neighborhoods. It reflects both the high-speed mobility of regional transport networks and the cultural character of Qingpu’s historic water landscapes. This contrast of scale and layered history forms a dual urban context that shapes the design approach: one part of the architecture integrates into the existing urban fabric, while the other forms a floating ring, expressing the relationship between architecture, the city, nature, and everyday life.

At ground level, a system of flowing landscapes brings together urban green spaces, plazas, and sunken courtyards to create a continuous and welcoming public realm. The landscape originates from the urban park to the west, gradually rises across the podium roofs, passes beneath the elevated building to the central plaza, and continues upward through vertical circulation to the sky gardens, forming a layered three-dimensional network. The podium, fully covered with planted roofs, houses reception areas, exhibition spaces, multifunctional halls, cultural and sports facilities, and retail amenities. It aligns seamlessly with surrounding streets along the north–south axis, extending the city’s public realm into the site and encouraging everyday interaction between employees and the broader community.

In accordance with urban planning guidelines, a public road passes through the site, dividing the campus into northern and southern zones and allowing the project to operate as an open extension of the city. The two zones are connected only by elevated and underground links, establishing a clear horizontal distinction between the public realm at ground level and the office volumes above. The lower levels—comprising the ground floor, second floor, and basement—remain open throughout the day and accommodate dining, cafés, and social spaces that support a vibrant, youth-oriented public life. Layered planting and integrated greenery further enhance the sense of comfort and human scale within these spaces.
The northern and southern zones serve two major business divisions of Midea Group, maintaining operational independence while supporting collaboration and accommodating large, flexible R&D floorplates. The design comprises two interlocking L-shaped office buildings that form a 240-by-240-meter ring, elevated above the ground on fourteen cores to maintain a clear relationship with the public realm below. This configuration allows sunlight and natural ventilation to move freely through the complex, while urban streets and landscaped plazas are seamlessly integrated into the campus, reinforcing connections between the architecture and the surrounding city.

At the ends of typical office floors, stepped outdoor roof terraces are introduced, integrating trees, lawns, and social spaces to provide employees with natural settings for relaxation and urban views. The terraced roof gardens and split-level terraces replace conventional equipment-dominated roofs, becoming extensions of office and meeting spaces as well as important interfaces for dialogue between people and nature.

The elevated R&D office volume forms a distinctive “sixth façade.” Setbacks at the ends of typical floors create openings, and the gray spaces along the cross-street sky bridges provide ample daylight and urban views for this façade. Its exterior is clad in diffuse reflective metal panels that abstractly mirror ground-level landscapes and urban activities—vivid and dynamic by day, and at night resembling a spacecraft hovering between earth and sky.

As a research and innovation workplace, the project emphasizes ultra-large, flexible floorplates. Occupying a site of over 80,000 square meters, the building is organized into two horizontal volumes with office floors approximately 40 meters wide and up to 440 meters long, and typical floor areas reaching 20,000 square meters. Shared atria are inserted at roughly 120-meter intervals, introducing daylight and natural ventilation while serving as key social hubs for collaboration and exchange.
The primary structure employs a full steel system combined with a bridge-inspired cable-stayed strategy to achieve long spans, incorporating advanced carbon fiber cables at an internationally leading level. Careful control of the podium height, together with sunken plazas and layered planting, helps reduce the perceived mass and ensures a comfortable relationship with the surrounding urban context.

The façade integrates vertical shading fins, operable windows, and photovoltaic roof systems to balance solar control, daylight access, and energy performance, further enhancing on-site renewable energy generation.

The Midea Global Innovation Park integrates large-scale research spaces with an open public realm and layered landscapes, fostering collaboration, wellbeing, and sustainability. By connecting innovation with everyday urban life, the campus becomes a forward-looking environment where technology, nature, and community interact in a dynamic and inclusive way.