Alibaba Damo Nanhu Industry Park: A Masterpiece of Innovative Design

Aedas' Award-Winning Design: A Blend of Technology, Nature, and Zen

The campus masterplan design of Alibaba Damo Nanhu Industry Park resembles a Bodhi leaf, with open courtyards and view corridors emulating leaf veins. This design maximizes the site potential and appears like a Bodhi leaf floating on the surface of the Nanhu Lake, embodying the graceful élan of Hangzhou.

The Alibaba DAMO Nanhu Industry Park is the first headquarters of Alibaba DAMO Academy. The project integrates the most technologically advanced research laboratories, visitors and exhibition centers, and ancillary facilities, creating a world-class scientific research institute on the banks of Nanhu Lake in Yuhang District, Hangzhou.

The R&D buildings are designed based on the latest "Neighborhood" teaming system, blending work, meeting, and personal space to create a collaborative workplace environment. Modular office blocks can be linked to create workplaces with floor plates between 2,000sqm to 4,000sqm. Working groups are distributed around shared amenities, atriums, and communal space to promote communication.

In the center of the campus is a “Zen” like courtyard, a space for meditation and thoughts befitting the story of DAMO for learning and innovation. The finger-shaped office buildings are set in parallel with the view corridor while canteen and public amenities are sensibly placed in the center of the campus on the north-south central axis for easy access.

The design team, led by Ken Wai, Global Design Principal, Wei Li, Executive Director, and Feili Shen, Executive Director, completed the project in 2023 in Hangzhou, China. The resulting design appears like a Bodhi leaf floating on the surface of the Nanhu Lake, embodying the graceful élan of Hangzhou.

This Design was awarded Platinum in A' Construction and Real Estate Projects Design Award in 2023. Platinum A' Design Award recognizes world-class, exceptional, and highly innovative designs that showcase unmatched professionalism, genius, and contribute to societal wellbeing. Awarded to the defining aesthetics of an era, they advance the boundaries of art, science, design, and technology, exhibiting transcendent excellence and making the world a better place.