“I am a disciple of nature, and I firmly believe that architecture should blend in with nature.” – Architect Wright
Purple Mountain, one of the four famous mountains in Jiangnan, is affectionately known as the “Jinling Yuxiu.” It serves not only as a hub of renowned scenic and historic sites in Nanjing but also as an iconic symbol of the city.
The Nanjing Zijin Wisdom Valley Headquarters Park is nestled at the foot of Purple Mountain, within the ecological corridor formed by Zijin Mountain, Lingshan, and Longwang Mountain. Covering approximately 70,000 square meters, it sits at the core of Maqun Science Park in Qixia District—a prime location for industry and talent. Developed by Sanyi and China Merchants Shekou, this innovative science park focuses on “artificial intelligence” and “Internet plus,” establishing a leading industry cluster along the Zijin Mountain corridor.
The park is perfectly situated at the base of Zijin Mountain. Photo by Liu Songkai.
△ Industrial Service Area. Photography: Seeking Beauty in Film and Television.
△ Industrial Acceleration Zone. Photography: Liu Songkai.
△ Industry Headquarters Area. Photography: Liu Songkai.
Building Industrial Organic Life: “Intelligent Agents” with the EOD Model
As the first industrial hub centered on artificial intelligence within the “Ring of Purple Mountain” in eastern Nanjing, the Nanjing Purple Intelligent Valley Headquarters Park aims to establish a high-end, green ecological headquarters base. It emphasizes cross-disciplinary integration with a focus on innovation and entrepreneurship.
△ The park offers panoramic views of Purple Mountain. Photo by Liu Songkai.
The park’s master plan follows an ecological environment-oriented development model (EOD). It incorporates design principles such as “continuous mountain scenery externally + shared internal gardens” and features a grand garden landscape axis. Beginning with Purple Mountain’s natural landscape, the design expands sightlines, connects with the distant mountain views, and creates an industrial organic life “intelligent agent” that seamlessly integrates humans, nature, and space.
Master planning and design of the park adopt the EOD model. Photo by Liu Songkai.
01 Ecological Experiential Artificial Intelligence “Green Valley”
The park balances ecological protection with industrial development. It serves not only as an efficient production base but also as a green ecological garden. A strong shared garden axis runs through the entire site, creating an ecological, boundary-free AI “Green Valley.”
Ecological Boundaryless AI “Green Valley”. Photo by Liu Songkai.
Boundless Sharing through a Garden Axis
Purple Mountain, also known as Zhongshan Mountain, acts as Nanjing’s “green lung,” boasting excellent ecology and natural beauty. Its lush greenery and interplay of light and water make it a precious landscape resource. Positioned at the foot of Zijin Mountain, the park’s main landscape stretches along the west side of the site, providing unobstructed mountain views.
The design begins with Purple Mountain’s landscape, analyzing views from various points on-site to maximize the borrowing of external scenery.
△ Design Concept
The architect established Purple Mountain as the ultimate viewpoint, creating a central garden axis that begins at the park entrance and opens up at the end to broaden views and engage with the distant mountain scenery. Along this axis, all AI-related facilities are connected, placing buildings predominantly on the north and south sides to maximize shared garden spaces.
△ Interaction with distant Purple Mountain views. Photo by Liu Songkai.
△ Green Ecological Garden Environment. Photography: Liu Songkai.
Maximizing Shared Garden Space. Photo by Liu Songkai.
Form Displacement and Landscape Integration
Although the buildings stand near the site boundaries, the architects use staggered forms to create a dynamic, varied facade, giving the park a spacious, breathable atmosphere. This design allows the Purple Mountain landscape along the central axis to flow through each office cluster. Externally, it reconnects the square and courtyards to the city, blending urban and park landscapes for seamless integration.
△ Landscape Penetration Analysis
△ The park’s central landscape axis opens toward Purple Mountain.
The open, inclusive layout allows access to the central garden axis from both inside and outside the park. Visitors can interact along this axis or relax in the scattered courtyards of each building cluster. The entire park functions as a shared garden without ecological, communicative, or interactive boundaries.
△ Scattered Architectural Forms. Photo by Liu Songkai.
△ Garden Landscape Axis. Photography: Liu Songkai.
△ Central Axis Sunken Plaza. Photography: Liu Songkai.
△ Green Ecological Courtyard Landscape. Photography: Liu Songkai.
Quality Planning with Separation of Pedestrian and Vehicle Traffic
The main entrance faces east, with industrial service offices, incubation centers, and headquarters aligned along the landscape axis from east to west. Supporting facilities like a sunken plaza and experience garden enrich the park’s environment and visitor experience.
△ Streamline Analysis and Functional Layout
The central landscape axis naturally separates pedestrian and vehicular flows. Vehicles can drop off passengers near each office, with parking spaces along the north-south road for convenience. Pedestrians enter the site and move inward, enjoying the landscaped walkways while accessing offices. This design successfully segregates people and vehicles, ensuring smooth and safe circulation.
△ Car Dealership Periphery. Photography: Liu Songkai.
△ Pedestrian Interior Landscape Garden. Photography: Liu Songkai.
02 Multi-dimensional Interactive Future Office Experience
Architecturally, Sanyi prioritizes flexibility and diversity over monotony and rigidity, moving from traditional closed designs toward open, interactive spaces. The goal is to reshape interpersonal relationships and industrial networks, creating a warm, dynamic industrial office environment with diverse interactive work settings.
Headquarters Office Product. Photo by Liu Songkai.
Product Modules: Flexible and Versatile
Design adapts to the park’s landscape and privacy features—sales areas face west with high landscape value, while self-sufficient areas are on the east. Meeting planning requirements for 300 square meter sales divisions, architects developed a modular “cross-shaped” building product. These modules can be combined or divided to offer flexible office spaces, catering to varied enterprise needs.
△ Flexible and versatile product modules.
Enterprises can occupy any wing or floor of the cross-shaped modules, with options to expand to an independent headquarters as they grow. The design ensures three-sided natural light for each building block, fostering independence and supporting diverse corporate identities.
△ Modular building placement on site. Photo by Liu Songkai.
△ “T-shaped” architectural form. Photography: Liu Songkai.
Enterprises can select any module based on their needs. Photo by Liu Songkai.
Each building block creates a sense of solitude. Photo by Liu Songkai.
Interlocking Blocks for Interactive Experiences
The weaving and interlacing design concept extends to the architecture itself. The square shapes of the AI Service Center and AI Learning Center at the park’s entrance are staggered to create dynamic facades and to increase shared spaces for communication and interaction with the surrounding environment.
△ Interweaving design concept.
△ Varied Facade Effects. Photography: Seeking Beauty in Film and Television.
The “T-shaped” buildings in the industrial headquarters area are also staggered in places, creating more experiential terraces and spaces that engage with Purple Mountain and the landscape axis. This blurs the line between indoor and outdoor spaces, offering users more areas for communication, relaxation, and scenic views.
△ Building Block Generation Diagram.
△ Creating versatile terrace spaces and interactive landscapes. Photography: Liu Songkai.
03 Fine Design Achieves Artistic Quality
Throughout the design process, Sanyi’s architects prioritize high-quality and refined design, focusing on construction details and spatial experience to deliver a park of exceptional quality.
△ Architectural detail. Photo: Liu Songkai.
Double Wall System with Elegant Detailing
The facade features a dual exterior wall system combining curtain walls and window walls. This design echoes the artificial intelligence theme through intersecting weaving patterns and subtle gradients. It balances cost control with architectural richness and injects playful creativity into the facade.
The facade’s curtain wall system is used on the main display sides facing Purple Mountain and the park’s landscape axis, featuring non-opening panels for optimal visual impact. On less prominent building faces, window wall systems with operable windows address natural ventilation needs while minimizing opposing views. This sequential window design reduces visual disturbance from open windows.
△ Main display and landscape-facing curtain walls. Photo: Xunmei Film and Television.
△ Window wall system on less prominent building sides. Photography: Seeking Beauty in Film and Television.
Meticulously Crafted Woven Facade
The gradient window openings and woven window wall system create striking visual tension. Achieving this effect is complex: typical painted window frames often lack delicacy. The architects collaborated closely with curtain wall manufacturers to design ultra-thin window frames and precisely align secondary framing within the main frame to achieve the desired aesthetic. The frame profiles also protrude slightly, forming water drips that prevent stains during rain.
△ Gradient Window Hole Design with Strong Visual Impact. Photography: Liu Songkai.
Regarding the woven window and wall system, the architects accounted for construction and coating thickness variations by reserving space in advance to ensure the final woven patterns align perfectly.
Woven Window Wall System. Photography: Liu Songkai.
To reduce visual confrontation on opposing facades of the cross-shaped buildings, architects implemented longer and deeper grilles.
△ Grilles designed to reduce direct visual contact. Photography: Liu Songkai.
Space Optimization and Maximizing Floor Height
With a building height restriction of 15 meters at the foot of Purple Mountain, designers employed creative solutions to maximize comfort. Air shafts are concealed within beam sockets to minimize height loss. Partial mirrored suspended ceilings enhance interior depth. Bathroom piping is strictly controlled above ceilings to maintain a clean, lightweight facade and an unobstructed user experience.
△ Partial mirrored ceiling design. Photography: Seeking Beauty Film and Television.
△ Comfortable office space. Source: Zijin Zhigu Headquarters Garden official account.
△ Inspection: Before and after bathroom pipeline adjustments.
△ Maintaining a clean, lightweight facade image. Photography: Seeking Beauty Film and Television.
China Merchants Shekou’s Comprehensive AI Service System Drives Regional Development
Since establishing China’s first export-oriented economic zone in 1979—the Shekou Industrial Zone—China Merchants Shekou has pioneered industrial park development with over 40 years of experience. It leads China in industrial resource integration, product strength, and regional value enhancement. Since 2019, it has ranked first for three consecutive years among the “Top 50 Chinese Industrial Park Operators of the Year.”
△ AI Service Center at night. Photography: Seeking Beauty in Film and Television.
Zijin Smart Valley, China Merchants Shekou’s first AI-focused industrial carrier, actively supports the national strategy for next-generation AI development. It leverages China Merchants’ abundant resources and a superior natural environment to create an industrial park characterized by Internet plus artificial intelligence, lush ecology, and diverse intelligent ecosystems.
△ Full life cycle service system. Source: Zijin Smart Valley Headquarters official account.
The park supports the entire enterprise lifecycle, integrating innovation incubation, research and development, and venture capital. With facilities such as the AI headquarters, AI acceleration incubation center, and AI learning service center, it offers comprehensive options tailored to various enterprise needs, positioning itself as a premier incubator and innovation engine for the region.
△ Park entrance. Photography: Liu Songkai.
△ Garden-style office environment. Photography: Liu Songkai.
With the park’s completion and operation, a new chapter begins for the AI industry in Qixia District. Zijin Smart Valley will continue to innovate and integrate with the district, shaping a “2+1” industrial framework led by AI, supported by the digital economy and new-generation information technology, laying a solid foundation for high-quality regional industrial growth.
Aerial view of the park. Photo by Liu Songkai.
Technical Drawings
△ Braided Window Hole Node
△ Gradient Window Sleeve Node
△ Curtain Wall Grid Node
△ Architectural Model
△ Architectural Model
△ Architectural Model
△ Inspection photos
Project Information
Project Name: Nanjing Merchants Zijin Zhigu Headquarters Park
Project Type: Industrial Park
Location: Intersection of Benma Road and Tianma Road, Qixia District, Nanjing City
Site Area: 42,300 square meters
Building Area: 70,100 square meters
Design Period: February 2019 – December 2020
Construction Period: December 2020 – June 2022
Developer: China Merchants Shekou Nanjing Company
Design Firm: Shanghai Sanyi Architectural Design Co., Ltd.
Lead Architects: Yu Xiaoxiao, Zhang Weiwei
Project Leader: Yu Xiaoxiao
Design Team: Li Yangyang, Wang Ying, Hu Zheyu, Hu Nan
Technical Support: Lu Xiaogang, Wang Xiaohong, Zhao Bin, Qian Fang, Wang Fang
Collaborators
Landscape Design: Guchuang Ecological Landscape Planning and Design (Beijing) Co., Ltd.
Interior Design: JIAI Interior Design (Shanghai) Co., Ltd.
Construction Drawing Design: Beijing Yanhuang International Joint Engineering Design Co., Ltd., Nanjing Branch
Curtain Wall Design: Kempes Curtain Wall Engineering Consultant (Shanghai) Co., Ltd.
Lighting Design: Tri Color Stone Design Institute
Construction: Jiangsu Feilong Decoration Engineering Co., Ltd.
Architectural Photography: Liu Songkai, Seeking Beauty Film and Television
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