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Architects: Aedas
Lead Architects: Cary Lau and Henry Chau
Design Team: Ivy Ng, Tim Mao, and Yihuan Xie
Associate Architects: East China Architectural Design & Research Institute Co., Ltd. (ECADI)
Lead Architects: Qiao Wei, Lingjuan Zhou, Yiqing Wang, Qingxin Lu, and Wanyu Bu
General Contractor: The First Construction Co., Ltd. of China Construction Third Engineering Bureau
Client: Cainiao Network
Photographers: Terrence Zhang

The design team entered an international design competition and was subsequently appointed as the Lead Design Architect to implement the Headquarters and its ancillary facilities for CaiNiao, the logistics service provider under Alibaba Group. Located inside Hangzhou Future Sci-Tech City, the 500,000-square-meter office park development comprises three major components: a Headquarters Building, a Visitor Center, and two phases of Office Parks. The client envisions the headquarters campus to create a strong sense of belonging and happiness for its staff, safely and efficiently fulfilling its 10000 staff's needs of daily work and business activities. The client values privacy highly. After evaluating different prototypes of the headquarters, they adopted a ring arrangement for the headquarters building to maximize the internal garden.

Being the headquarters of a logistics giant, ‘Connectivity’ is one of the most important design considerations. The planning and design of the headquarters building is inspired by a space station. By connecting the ring to a central circulation core, staff can move around in the headquarters much more conveniently. The headquarters building is divided into four courtyards by the office space. Each courtyard features different themes based on the interior functions of the ground floor: events, sports, dining, and conferences. The four courtyards are interconnected by a central atrium which creates a communal hub of the headquarters. East Courtyard abuts the main entrance lobby to the headquarters. It is the venue for large gathering events with a large hard-paved area forming a plaza. A multi-function hall is located on the north side of the courtyard. The multi-function hall can create a continuous indoor and outdoor space by opening up the façade. West Courtyards are surrounded by canteens.

Landscape design provides outdoor leisure space for outdoor activities such as picnics. People can be closer to nature while dining. The theme for the South Courtyard is sports. The courtyard is surrounded by gyms, indoor basketball courts, and badminton courts. The large water body creates a tranquil zen space in the middle of the courtyard, creating a healthy lifestyle for the staff. Conference is the theme of the North Courtyard, three featured conference rooms are connected with a veranda weaving through the landscape. By merging the conference space with nature, staff can enjoy the delicate landscape mimicking the Traditional Jiangnan Garden. The atrium is the circulation core for the “space station”. Events and exhibitions can be hosted on the ground floor to encourage communication among the staff. The office spaces from the first floor to the fourth floor are connected with internal staircases, increasing the efficiency of daily operations. Skylight introduces abundant natural light to the atrium. The simple coloring of the interior space featured with vertical fins is bathed in soft lighting, creating a playful light and shadow effect.

The overall façade design draws inspiration from Cainiao's company logo, which creates a “Nest” embracing the entire Headquarters Building. With the consideration of sustainability, there are many covered outdoor spaces on the ground floor, bringing fresh air and cross ventilation to all courtyards. Staff is protected from rain and direct sun. Computer simulations to evaluate solar heat gain along the office façade were introduced during the design process to reduce the building energy consumption. Vertical fins as sun-shading devices were applied with varying fin depth according to solar heat gain.