commentChervon International Headquarters
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In its design for the new Chervon Headquarters in Nanjing, the Chicago office of Perkins & Will tried to balance the innovative drive of a growing company with intimations of traditional Chinese garden design. Led by partner Ralph Johnson, the design team combined strategies taken from both local and global sources to create a contemporary administrative and research center for Chervon International Trading Company, a major manufacturer of power tools for foreign and domestic markets.
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The 30,700-square-meter building separates the client’s program into five sections: management, sales, research and development, testing, and training. Offices are located along the building’s meandering, zig-zig floor plan, which reflects the winding paths seen in many Chinese gardens. A linear portico cuts a direct line through the complex—a device that represents the “modern” intersecting the “traditional.”
In the center of the zig-zag plan, Perkins + Will placed employee amenities, including a covered running track and basketball courts, as well as a cafeteria and meeting places for the approximately 800 employees working in the building. To the north, a drill-bit shaped pavilion—a form that clearly echoes Chervon’s products—adds a focal point to the complex. It contains a staircase and a showroom for displaying the company’s latest innovations. Those innovations come from an adjacent wing—the product research section of the structure—which includes product testing labs, design/modeling areas, a workshop, and a product sample room.
A continuous green roof covers the entire building, advertising the sustainable intentions of the building and the company. The architects used water features throughout the project, recalling traditional Chinese garden design. In all, the design negotiates the requirements of a modern, state-of-the-art company, while recalling its Chinese roots. The modern and the traditional here are not at odds, but combined into a comprehensively planned whole.
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