IPPH ‘Intellectual Property Publishing House’ new office building

IPPH Headquarters (Beijing/China)
International Architectural Competition
1st Prize

Located close to the north-western city centre, in vicinity to a whole bunch of important and iconic buildings, the new office building will mainly benefit from splendid views southwards to the extensive green areas of the hundred-years-old Zoological Park of Beijing.
The neighbourhood is a vivid, mixed-use city district with great development potential, 20 minutes by foot from the North Railway Station and Beijing’s busiest traffic hub Xizhimen, 10 minutes from the National Library and its subway station, with two universities nearby, schools, hotels, offices, exhibition centre, vast parks, the Five Pagodas Temple and the Capital Gymnasium around the corner, brief: the whole variety of central urban areas.

The future owner and main user – at the same time organizer of the international design competition – is the state-owned IPPH (Intellectual Property Publishing House, www.ipph.cn/en), an organization that deals since three decades with publishing of patent literature in books, magazines, gazettes, digital media and books-on-demand. Over the years, and in line with the necessary internationalization of IPR affairs, IPPH has become a modern enterprise, with more than a thousand employees, with own editorial departments, with modern tools for patent data information & research and plenty of international cooperation.
This contemporary, even advanced part of the company culture should in the end be reflected in the architecture of the new headquarters building. This is one of the reasons why one third of the invited design companies have been selected from German-speaking countries.
RhineScheme’s overall design goal was to endow the Client with a mature and representative building which combines the functional organization of an up-to-date office building with a narrative architecture and a consistent urban concept.

The plot is defined by streets on two sides: a still-to-be-built main road in its north connecting the Second Ring Road (encompassing the ancient city centre) with the National Library area, and a smaller street in the west leading to the north gate of the zoo. By concentrating the building in the east side of the plot, the basic rectangular shape receives wider east-west facades which are favourable to an office building – even in China where south orientation is almost a must.

RhineScheme decided to take advantage of the particular plot features by positioning a large public square at the street corner. An open - and relatively protected - sunken plaza will create a place for meeting and relaxation, giving a distinct name card to the company that is financing the project and to its cultural matrix.

The functional building programme is simple: The first three floors as well as the first underground floor of the 60-meters-tower are for retail and catering, while the remaining twelve levels provide office space - the lower floors for renting out, the upper seven as the owner’s headquarters. (Apart from that, the compulsory 250 underground parking lots are provided in 3 additional underground levels.)

As an answer to a particular company culture, the main semi-public functions such as bar-restaurant, exhibition area and conference hall are placed in the top floor. Other areas for meeting and communication are appropriately located close to several overlooking terraces.
Most obviously the company’s culture and its Corporate Identity are reflected in the skin of the building which makes a clear distinction between (semi-)public areas and places for work. Since IPPH mainly deals with publishing, the office facades create the vivid image of a book shelf, with bigger and smaller, thinner and wider volumes.
The striking cantilever of the second and third floor with its commercial uses overlooks the sunken square; at the same time it protects the open space below. Last not least, it provides a visual landmark from the pedestrian and car driver’s perspective. Its roof forms a big terrace in the fourth floor. Allocating it to the two-level club facilities ensures that this splendid space has both a day and night life.
The lower level of the building serves as fast food area for the users and for the surrounding areas; the adjacent sunken square with its simple landscape design will allow people to sit and talk or just enjoy the space.

The project centers on the concept of cultural exchange, and on a well-going interrelation between different functions and users and between public, semi-public and private spheres.
More than that, the Client has high ambitions on the technical and energy concept of the building. Detailed proposals have been made which are going to be integrated in the further designing process.
The vote of the experts’ jury for RhineScheme’s design was unanimous; likewise was its recommendation to finally choose the awarded design for construction. The design commission was given to the competition winner in June of 2012.

Design: RhineScheme GmbH (www.rhinescheme.com)
Design period: 2012.03-04
Construction land area: 0.5 ha (4,900 m²)
GFA: 32,000 m² (17,000 m² above ground)
Directors: Li Ran, Wolf Loebel
Project architect: Daniele Baratelli (design assistant: Wan Huang)