BDP's Shanghai Pharma Campus Takes Shape Like Splitting Cells

Architecture studio BDP has completed a pharmaceutical research campus in Shanghai for Chia Tai Tianqing Pharmaceutical Group (CTTQ), one of China's leading pharmaceutical companies. The design takes its cue from cell division.

The 186,000-square-metre research and development headquarters sits within the Hongqiao International Central Business District in west Shanghai. BDP arranged the programme as two pairs of interconnected buildings, each pair designed to resemble cells splitting apart, with glass-covered bridges linking the halves.

The two research buildings place their cores at either end rather than the centre. This leaves large, flexible floor plates that can adapt to changing laboratory requirements.

One research building connects to a smaller block containing staff accommodation. The other links to a taller administrative building — the highest structure on the site — which anchors the new headquarters. A conference centre attaches to the administrative building.

A raised sky bridge at first-floor level curves around the site, connecting all four buildings and providing a series of indoor and outdoor spaces where people meet and interact. The four blocks surround a central park that opens to the public.

"This is a place for research within a campus that doesn't turn its back on the city or the people using it," said BDP director Tianyi Gu.

"The central heart opens the site up to the public, while the buildings are planned to make research, collaboration and everyday life work together."

Cafes, a canteen and a gym occupy the lower levels of the buildings, supporting staff wellbeing and work-life balance. According to BDP, the arrangement of the four blocks breaks down the scale of the campus into a series of destinations.

"We've paid close attention to the things that make a difference to people's working day – access to daylight and fresh air, places to meet, eat and exercise, and spaces to step away from the laboratory," said Gu.

"For CTTQ, this is a research campus built for change, but also a place for people, a place with a strong sense of identity and an identifiable connection to Shanghai."

The campus employs passive design strategies across the site: natural ventilation, facade solar shading, and customised facade designs that respond to different orientations and functions. Low-E glass improves energy performance, while a large array of rooftop photovoltaic panels creates a pattern that adds to the campus's identity.

The project joins a run of large corporate campuses in China. KPF has designed a tech campus in Shenzhen for TP-Link wrapped by a one-kilometre-long "landscape ribbon", and RSHP recently completed a mixed-use skyscraper in Shanghai informed by the city's historical laneway network. As Chinese firms increasingly invest in architecture that doubles as public amenity and identity statement, BDP's cell-splitting composition signals how laboratories are being planned around people as much as pipettes.