Golden A' Design Award Winner 2024
Verdant living roofscapes cascade across Anjihood's Anji Creative Design Center Urban and Rural Area in this aerial photograph capturing an extraordinary synthesis of architectural innovation and ecological integration, where approximately fifteen distinct building volumes present themselves as a continuous landscape of cultivated green surfaces punctuated by crisp white circulation pathways that serpentine through the complex like mountain streams carving through terraced hillsides. The compositional architecture employs a distinctly organic geometric armature, eschewing rigid orthogonal grids in favor of flowing diagonal vectors that guide the eye from the upper right corner's terraced agricultural forms, reminiscent of traditional rice paddy cultivation, through the central cluster of rectangular green-roofed pavilions, toward the mature deciduous trees anchoring the left portion of the frame. The chromatic analysis reveals a sophisticated analogous harmony dominated by variations of viridian, sap green, chrome oxide green, and terre verte across the living roof surfaces, modulated by seasonal variations in grass health producing subtle shifts from fresh spring chartreuse to deeper forest tones. The cool neutral palette of pale gray concrete and white aluminum framing provides essential chromatic relief, creating a temperature contrast between the warm organic greens and the cool architectural infrastructure. Natural daylight, appearing to fall from a high midday angle under overcast atmospheric conditions, produces soft diffused illumination that minimizes harsh shadows while preserving the three-dimensional articulation of each building volume through subtle attached shadows beneath overhanging roof edges. The spatial construction employs a modified isometric perspective inherent to drone photography, flattening the picture plane while maintaining clear depth cues through overlapping forms and textural gradient as vegetation details diminish with distance. Surface textures oscillate between the optical softness of grass meadows, suggesting yielding organic matter, and the smooth precision of architectural surfaces presenting themselves as refined geometric interventions. The edge treatment demonstrates remarkable sophistication, with hard linear boundaries defining building perimeters while soft organic transitions characterize vegetation zones where grass meets paving or tree canopy dissolves into sky. Stylistically, the complex demonstrates clear affiliations with contemporary sustainable architecture and landscape urbanism movements, evoking the ecological integration principles associated with practices emerging from progressive design studios focused on environmental regeneration and biophilic placemaking.
Anji Creative Design Center is a shared work and cultural building designed to connect urban and rural life. The center holds public services, co-working areas, an innovation lab, a library and a cafe. Spaces of different sizes are spread across the undulating site and linked by raised corridors and inner courtyards. Slim steel columns and glass curtain walls support vaulted roofs covered with planting, so the building blends into the surrounding tea fields. The design offers digital nomads and creators room for work, study, exhibitions and seminars.