Overview of Tianmu
Tianmu Li is located in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, China, and represents the first project by Pritzker Prize laureate Renzo Piano in China. Covering approximately 230,000 square meters, this development integrates offices, art galleries, art centers, fashion show venues, design hotels, and art-related businesses, forming a landmark comprehensive art park.
The project is a joint investment by the clothing brand Jiangnan Buyi and Goa Elephant Design. Notably, Goa Elephant Design is not only an investor but also the executive designer, providing comprehensive technical support for over seven years.
© Goa Elephant Design
Design Concept
The original design concept was inspired by an apple: a hard exterior enclosing a soft, rich core. To maximize air circulation and sunlight in the central square, Renzo Piano lowered the original 11th floor to the 9th floor during design and eliminated the 7th and 8th floors, ensuring sunlight reaches every corner.
Transparency and visual openness at the base of the buildings emphasize harmony with nature and the urban environment. Consequently, Tianmu Li is not a closed office park but an ‘urban living room’ oasis that fosters artistic life and human interaction. The site hosts diverse activities and events, making social engagement the heart of Tianmu’s vitality.
© Goa Elephant Design
Regarding circulation, four pairs of transfer elevators are strategically placed in the courtyard. Visitors arrive from the underground parking, ascend to ground level, and pass through the courtyard to enter office buildings. As the glass elevators ascend, they reveal the ecological environment of the central square—the project’s vibrant core. Each year, Tianmu commissions artists to create sound artworks inside the lift cars, changing with seasons and foot traffic.
© Goa Elephant Design
Green Core
The green “core” of Tianmu features a multi-level system extending vertically: from sunken courtyards, ground vegetation, mirrored water pools, and outdoor terrace flower boxes to a rooftop tea garden. The plant landscape was designed by American plant ecologist Paul Kephart, with greenery naturally spreading from underground to the roof along the building façades.
The rooftop, considered the fifth façade, is planted with iconic Hangzhou tea species—specifically, Longjing 43 and Anji white tea—selected for their adaptability in urban environments. To maximize planting space, roof equipment and core tubes were carefully organized, alongside sophisticated systems for drip irrigation, misting, lighting, shading, and wind protection. Tianmu incorporates advanced green technologies and is pursuing LEED BD+C: CS Gold certification.
Green Park © Wen Studio
Facade
The exterior employs a prefabricated unit curtain wall system over most areas (excluding the first floor, sunken courtyard, and setback zones), covering roughly 80,000 square meters. The façade mainly consists of imported flake anodized aluminum panels. Each module is prefabricated in a factory, then assembled and installed on-site, ensuring aesthetic quality, efficiency, and environmental friendliness.
This project is the first in China to widely implement surface pressure treatment on sheet anodized aluminum panels.
© Wen Studio
© Goa Elephant Design
Christian Pohl GmbH, the supplier of the anodized aluminum panels for Tianmu Li, is among the world’s top suppliers, with the same materials used in iconic buildings such as the World Trade Center in New York, Jumeirah Emirates Hotel, Dubai Apple Store, and Rockefeller Plaza.
© Wen Studio
© Goa Elephant Design
The façade from the second floor facing the central courtyard up to the terrace and rooftop (floors 8–9) is equipped with Italian-imported electric sunshade systems. The second floor uses an electric folding arm guide rail system, featuring the signature “RPBW green” color selected by the designer. The terrace level employs an electric vertical lifting guide system.
△ Electric folding arm guide rail system © Wen Studio
△ Electric vertical lifting guide rail system © Goa Elephant Design
Exposed Concrete
Exposed plain concrete is a key architectural feature of Tianmu Li. The treated concrete core tubes and beam slabs serve both structural and aesthetic purposes, expressing the building’s character.
Construction of over 40,000 square meters of high-quality plain concrete was executed alternately by two teams, with Italy’s Dottor Group leading. Their millimeter-level precision, consistent “silk-like” texture, and innovative thin load-bearing walls in the art center have achieved world-class standards—remarkable given local engineering conditions.
Commercial concrete in the domestic market did not meet the project’s strict molding quality and stability requirements. To ensure consistency and supply, designers and engineers conducted extensive raw material testing (sand, gravel, cement) and established an on-site mixing plant to produce customized high-quality concrete.
© Wen Studio
© Wen Studio
© Wen Studio
Featured Architecture & Landscape
Hall
“Zhiguan” is a world-class contemporary art museum serving as Tianmu’s energy center and the premier destination for contemporary art locally and internationally. The museum’s art curation is led by renowned Italian curator and writer Francesco Bonami.
Notably, the museum incorporates a natural light guiding system and DMX512 lighting control technology. Skylights and rooftop accessories introduce natural light, while artificial lighting automatically adjusts, enhancing energy efficiency and visual comfort.
Eye Space
“Muli Space” is a rare multifunctional venue in Hangzhou, equipped with state-of-the-art sound and stage design. It hosts diverse events such as fashion shows, live music, theater performances, forums, salons, and press conferences, becoming a cultural and entertainment hub within the park.
Both Zhiguan and Muli spaces are large structural units with column-free spans up to 33 meters at the base, accommodating various exhibitions. The upper 9-meter-high floors are designed for office use. Large trusses on floors 3–4 facilitate smooth structural transitions, creating a seamless spatial experience. Massive concrete walls and steel columns at the base express the architectural theme that “structure is architecture.”
© Wen Studio
Resident
The Art Residency Center, located in Building 17 and named “Zhi Ju,” will provide living and creative spaces for artists. The tower’s standout feature is its extremely thin load-bearing wall core tube—42 meters tall and 18 meters long with a thickness of only 0.3 meters.
This thin core tube supports asymmetrically distributed functional spaces on east and west sides, with floors 6–9 on the west “floating” and suspended by four steel inclined supports, creating a striking visual impact.
△ “Resident” © Wen Studio
△ “Resident” © Goa Elephant Design
Shuijing Square
The park’s centerpiece features two expansive water mirrors covered by a 2-centimeter layer of water. The design requires the water surface to fill or drain within one minute, posing strict demands on ground load-bearing capacity and flatness. The subtle color variations of wet and dry ground surfaces further enhance the overall effect.
Sunken Courtyards
Tianmu includes 11 sunken courtyards. Among them, three dry landscape courtyards—named “Wind,” “Water,” and “Air”—were designed by renowned Japanese dry landscape master Shunmei Kano and his team.
The dry landscape located in a sunken courtyard © Goa Elephant Design
Bridge
Built on the original site of the Yidi Bridge, Renzo Piano’s design draws inspiration from a ship. The bridge’s bold red color is a rare accent in the project. Two 2-meter-wide pedestrian walkways are suspended along both sides of the deck, giving the structure a slender and lightweight appearance.
© Goa Elephant Design
Project Information
Project Name: Tianmu Li
Location: Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China
Land Area: Approximately 43,400 m²
Floor Area: Approximately 15,600 m²
Total Construction Area: Approximately 230,000 m²
Investor: Huizhan Technology (Hangzhou) Co., Ltd
Main Design Team:
Architectural Design (including architecture, interior, and landscape): Renzo Piano Architecture Studio (Italy)
Executive Design (architecture and interior): Goa Elephant Design
Design Management Consultant: ZSD Zhuoshi
Consultants and Sub-Design Teams:
Structural Engineering: Goa Elephant Design, Arup Engineering Consultant
Mechanical and Electrical Engineering: Goa Elephant Design, Arup Engineering Consultant
Curtain Wall Engineering: Arup Engineering Consultant
Plant Consultant: RANA CREEK (USA)
Water Feature Design Consultant: JML Consultants (Spain)
Landscape Deepening Design: Greentown Love Environment
Interior Deepening Design: Goa Elephant Design
Lighting Consultant: Arup Engineering Consultant
Acoustic Consultant: SM&W Sheng Meihua
Art Museum Advisor: Francesco Bonami (Italy)
Logo Consultant: Square Peg Design (Singapore)
Main Construction Team:
Civil Engineering and Installation: China Construction Third Engineering Bureau
Steel Structure Construction: China Construction Steel Structure
Plain Concrete Construction: DOTTOR GROUP (Italy)
Curtain Wall Construction: Gartner
Landscape Construction: Xingpu (Shanghai) Landscape Engineering Co., Ltd., Palm Ecological Town Development Co., Ltd., Zhejiang Greentown Landscape Engineering Co., Ltd
Fine Decoration: Shanghai Building Decoration Engineering Group Co., Ltd, Shanghai Baojie Innovation Construction Group Co., Ltd, Zhejiang Fanshi Decoration Engineering Co., Ltd
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