The front square is designed © by Wu Siming
Review: From Brewery to "Pipa"
Pearl River Beer is one of Guangzhou's urban memories, witnessing the rapid development of the city, and it is also seeking a road of transformation and upgrading. In 2009, in order to welcome the guangzhou Asian Games, the Vertical Liang Society first transformed the original Pearl River Coal Transmission Terminal, combining the commercial bar street with the cultural and leisure belt to become a new waterfront space "Pipa" with poetic landscape architectural means, which has since become a business card of Guangzhou's nightlife and ushered in various fashion crowds in the morning light and mist. The subsequent opening of the Water Light Rail directly set up the station inside the Pipa Dai, which further enhanced the popularity.
The newborn Pearl Beer Creative Garden © Wu Siming
Steam engine boiler room park © Wu Siming
Power core © Wu Siming
In the design process of the Pearl River Pipa, several thorny problems were encountered: there were strict urban style controls along the Pearl River, which were sensitive to the volume of buildings; the Pearl River Brewery still had a large number of production activities that needed to use the waterfront to transport raw materials and goods, cutting off the flow of bar street; and below the base was the Modisha Expressway Tunnel, which also posed challenges to the construction infrastructure. We solve these problems simultaneously through the continuous folding structure of "landscape architecture integration".
Front Square © Wu Siming
The building volume is presented as a wide grass slope, which keeps the maximum openness to the river view while minimizing the impact on the scenery along the Pearl River. Production transport streamlines are covered underneath the landscape, avoiding streamlined crossings. The continuous plan not only conforms to the law of commercial layout, but also allows the building to make the greatest use of shallow foundations.
Front square coal pipeline © Wu Siming
Bead beer steam engine room transformation
After the production functions have been relocated, Pearl River Beer Group hopes to package the entire original factory site and transform it into a "beer house" cultural and creative commercial project, which will become a landmark of cultural innovation in Guangzhou. For the complex old industrial plants that remain in the region, it means a lot of meticulous foundation work. In 2018, Shuliang Society embarked on the renovation of the most complex and representative boiler steam engine room and connected machinery and equipment (hereinafter referred to as the steam engine room) in the park to meet the needs of Pearl River Beer Group's own office. The steam turbine used to be a functional module that provided the power source for the entire Pearl River Brewery, and we hope that it can also become the "power core" of the future park.
New urban space © Wu Siming
Turbine room façade © Wu Siming
The implementation and deepening of the spirit of urban public space
As an office comprehensive project, the river-facing part is first defined as an open space, designed and combed the site, and cleverly connects the Linjiang pedestrian greenway, the bar street outdoor platform, the transformation machinery maintenance platform, etc., as a guide, extends to the city, creates a multi-faceted and diversified experience, forms the amplification of the riverside public space in the depth and vertical direction, and connects with the viewing platform facing the Pearl River, which greatly expands the diversity and interest of the public walking system. Users in the office area can connect to the outside world through a special streamline, ensuring convenience and no interference.
Coal shed renovation 2009-2018 © Wu Siming
A leisure square © formed between the coal shed and the water treatment Wu Siming
Pipa Landscape Renovation 2009 © Wu Siming
"Beer + " Dynamic Prediction of Urban Development
Because of the particularity of the location, the steam engine room will be used as a headquarters office in the short term, but in the long run, there is a possibility of transformation to leased offices, shared offices, and even cultural and commercial complexes, or it is a combination of various formats. Therefore, the design is not guided by "type architecture", and the scope of the problem is not limited to an architectural design, but more from the coherence of the site streamline, spatial experience, and visual interface, and finally forms the result of the ambiguity of "miscellaneous".
The interior space © of the steam engine room is Wu Siming
A Dialogue © between New and Old Time wu siming
The old and the new are interdependent © Wu Siming
Conservation and utilization of industrial heritage
The industrial heritage preserved at the pearl beer factory site has obvious unique feature values, but the laws and regulations for the protection of industrial heritage are still in their infancy and exploration in China, and it is necessary to adopt a cautious attitude. Originally a building dealing with coal, steam and electricity, the steam room was magnificent but dark and oppressive, how could it be transformed into a comfortable and pleasant modern office space while retaining the characteristics of industrial space? After conducting a large number of on-site screening and evaluation, the designers formulated a utilization plan for each machine part, creating a scene of interdependence between industrial heritage and modern office through in-situ maintenance, off-site protection, demolition and reconstruction.
Industrial heritage and modern office system shine © together Wu Siming
The "new connection ©" established inside the steam engine room is Wu Siming
Expression of industrial memory
We try to find the most valuable industrial memory, burned into the regenerative genes of pearl beer, and expressed silently in the process of transformation, so that people can enter this intertwined industrial space without being disturbed.
Site protection © of industrial building components Wu Siming
Modern office system © Wu Siming
The original factory building has a distinct rationality of industrial architecture, similar to the classical aesthetic characteristics. We extracted the façade inspiration from the original industrial heritage - "malt silos", "coal sheds", "packaging workshops", etc., and restored the original water-brushed stone materials, making them a unified feature of the entire park. Retain the original concrete truss and the orderly arrangement of the original window holes in the steam engine building, "repair the old as old", and retain industrial traces and memories to the greatest extent. At the same time, the use of large-area modern glass windows brings a strong contrast between the old and the new to the façade, reflecting the simple and modern style without losing the atmosphere of industrial culture.
Malt barrel © Wu Siming
The designer funfully placed the "beer bubble" element into the curtain wall display interface, as if to say, the evening breeze is still attached, you may wish to come and "have a drink" with the bead beer. Under the sun, the light and shadow are intertwined, and the steam boiler platform retains the intertwined pipeline machinery, using the main color of "Pearl River Beer" for "blending" regeneration, and time seems to go slower here.
Architectural details Wu © Siming
In the future, the new urban space constructed by pearl beer is the fertile soil of the city awakened by industrial relics, carrying the growth of more art, culture and life trends, and the Pearl River Brewery will continue to participate in the fermentation and brewing of urban culture.
Renovation of the water treatment room between 2009 and 2018 © Wu Siming
Project sheets
General floor plan
Public system profile
Section between steam engines
Turbine compartment façade
Project information
Project Name: Pearl Beer Steam Engine Renovation (Pearl Beer Creative Park Phase II)
Architectural Design: Vertical Beam Society
Company location: Guangzhou Haizhu District Vipshop Tongchuang Hui Black Box Community
Year of Completion: 2021
Area: 10690 ㎡
Project Address: Haizhu District, Guangzhou
Main Creative Architect: Zhu Zhiyuan Zhong Guanqiu Song Gang
Vertical Beam Society Team: Wu Rongjuan Peng Jun He Qili Xie Guanjie Chang Xiying Liang Qifu Zhang Mingtian Chen Ju Long Weihao Pang Yuqiang Tan Jun Zhou Xiangying Shen Yuxiang Chen Xiangying (Intern) Zhen Weiyi (Intern)
Hanging Liangzi team: Mo Shifeng, Li Jiajin, Jian Qiuyi
Principal: Guangzhou Pearl River Beer Co., Ltd
Photographer: Wu Siming