△ © Millimeter Architecture
The Liangjiang Collaborative Innovation Zone Planning Exhibition Center is situated in the southern part of the innovation zone, on the west side of Huanhu Road. The site covers approximately 25 acres and occupies a prominent hilltop within the 6.8 km² core area of the zone. This elevated small mountain features cliffs on its eastern side, overlooking Mingyue Ecological Lake and its surrounding landscape belt. Surrounded entirely by nature, the site is set back from the planned roadways. From the summit, visitors can catch a distant glimpse of the ancient town of Longxing.
△ © Millimeter Architecture
01 Round Hall
The exhibition center spans a total construction area of 5,190 m² and serves multiple functions including reception, exhibition, communication, and office spaces. Acting as the ‘living room’ of the entire park, its functional boundaries are flexible and varied, nestled within a rich and natural landscape. From the outset, the design carefully avoids imposing a large structure on this modest hill. Instead, the functions are distributed throughout the landscape to harmonize with the environment.
The visitor route begins at the bamboo forest along the park road and unfolds gradually through a transition between natural and constructed landscapes. The main building retains only one central exhibition hall on the ground floor, which spans the entire innovation zone. This hall forms a complete circle in plan, with variations in roof height signaling different internal functional areas.
△ General Plan of Liangjiang Exhibition Center © Tang Hua Architectural Design
△ Project video © Millimeter Architecture
The architecture symbolizes the two rivers, gently resting on the mountain peak. It integrates with the site through a suspended structure. Adjacent to the cliff, offices, conference rooms, and a coffee shop are positioned beneath the circular hall, offering panoramic lake views. To soften the connection between these spaces and the main exhibition hall, a flowing design encourages visitors to engage with the scenery before entering the next themed indoor space. A vertical cylinder inside the building supports efficient access and service circulation.
△ © Millimeter Architecture
Like a three-dimensional amusement park, the sectional spatial design and streamlined functions foster a deeper interaction between the building and its surroundings. This approach creates an authentic connection between the sculptural form and the main exhibition hall, rather than presenting the building as a mere outer shell.
△ © Millimeter Architecture
02 Two Rivers
The confluence of the Jialing and Yangtze Rivers has shaped Chongqing’s unique culture and become its most recognizable symbol. Inspired by this, the design incorporates the river confluence shape as a graphic element throughout the site.
The circular hall’s roof elevation varies, forming three thematic zones: a high-ceiling planning and display area, exhibition booths mimicking mountain shapes, and an exhibition wall zone.
△ Map + logo © Tang Hua Architectural Design
△ Sketch of Chongqing Liangjiang Collaborative Innovation Zone © Tang Hua Architectural Design
During festivals and special events, the entire exhibition hall can be transformed into a reporting hall for large-scale gatherings. Departing from traditional sand table displays, the center features a vertical sand table wall reaching up to 17 meters high to showcase the overall planning of Liangjiang New Area. A strip-shaped long window offers continuous views of the mountains and the new district landscape.
This high-ceiling experience blends future visions with present reality, merging poetry with ideals. Visitors enter following the “river” flow toward Chongqing’s future—a map of Liangjiang New Area.
△ Space Design © Tang Hua Architectural Design
△ © Millimeter Architecture
This spatial concept not only defines the main exhibition hall’s language but also structures the building’s overall vertical system. Vertical circulation is concentrated at the end of the “river channel,” featuring cantilevered platforms on each floor with a maximum overhang of approximately 12 meters.
To maintain vertical stiffness and comfort in these large cantilevered sections, a 1.5-meter-high steel truss is employed. Some cantilever elements include connecting beams on their upper and lower chords to ensure overall truss stability. Standing in the exhibition hall’s center, visitors experience the morphological symbols of the Yuzhong Peninsula.
△ Structural design © Tang Hua Architectural Design
△ © Millimeter Architecture
03 Shaping
The building’s facade draws inspiration from the two rivers’ shapes, stripping away unnecessary ornamentation to create a serene, sculptural presence that blends with the vibrant natural surroundings. Plain concrete cladding is the primary material, delivering a unified and understated texture.
To avoid visual fragmentation caused by panel joints, vertical grooves with hand-brushed texture conceal vertical joints, while horizontal joints are clearly expressed with a 30mm gap. A module of 4.30m was chosen as the basic unit to reduce the number of molds for facade panels, improving construction efficiency. This module also helps regulate the placement and size of openings, highlighting the building’s form through a simple yet expressive texture.
△ Elevation drawing © Tang Hua Architectural Design
△ © RudyDong Architectural Vision
Extensive testing was conducted on groove width, depth, and angle to achieve uniformity. The selected 50mm spacing and roughened texture produce a consistent shadow pattern that best expresses the building’s form. Later, concrete protectants were applied to adjust the overall color, improving tolerance for panel color variations and ensuring strict construction quality.
△ © RudyDong Architectural Vision
04 Path
The design of the visitor path emphasizes spatial rhythm in relation to the open scenery. Before entering the exhibition center, tall bamboo forests and narrow paths constrict visitors’ perception, serving as a prelude to the expansive landscape of Mingyue Lake.
Crossing the approach bridge leads to the entrance, a modest and concealed gateway just 2.1 meters high. Beyond the lobby, visitors enter a soaring exhibition hall with a height of 19 meters. After touring the main hall, a winding 4-meter-wide staircase provides access to an open rooftop platform.
These experiences of compression and expansion, along with shifts in density, enrich the landscape’s depth and create a layered spatial journey within a limited footprint.
△ © RudyDong Architectural Vision
△ Model diagram © Tang Hua Architectural Design
The building sits on the southern side of the mountain ridge’s highest point. It employs a traditional suspended construction technique to create interior spaces and viewing platforms at different elevations, following the terrain’s shape. The mountain’s form extends indoors as stepped spaces. The rooftop platform connects to a mountain walkway, serving as a key node in the landscape circulation system. A pedestrian network links the entrance and viewing platforms, making the building a public hub within the landscape.
△ © Millimeter Architecture
△ © RudyDong Architectural Vision
Conclusion
Having been operational for over a year, the exhibition center’s surrounding plants are thriving, gradually realizing the original vision of harmony between architecture and nature. Set amidst mountains, waters, and lakes, the light gray structure exudes elegance, brilliance, simplicity, and restraint. Perched atop the hill, it stands as a companion and chronicler of this innovative city where technology, culture, and ecology converge.
△ © Millimeter Architecture
Known locally as the Sun Moon Tonghui Hall due to its circular form by Mingyue Lake, this building inspired the logo of the Two Rivers Collaborative Innovation Zone. It has become a crucial spatial symbol of the zone. Today, a series of buildings of various scales have emerged along the lake, and the zone has attracted more than 40 universities and colleges. These campuses bring high-end research talent, core technologies, and industry-leading innovations. Amid a park where ecology and technology thrive together, the planning and exhibition center presents an elegant and serene presence, creating a vertical landscape along the lake’s tour route.
△ © Millimeter Architecture
△ First floor plan © Tang Hua Architectural Design
△ Second floor plan © Tang Hua Architectural Design
△ Section diagram © Tang Hua Architectural Design
Project Information
Project Name: Chongqing Liangjiang Collaborative Innovation Zone Planning Exhibition Center
Project Type: Exhibition Architecture
Project Area: 5,190.45 square meters
Completion Date: December 2022
Design Scope: Architectural Scheme
Design Company: Shenzhen Tanghua Architectural Design Firm Co., Ltd
Chief Creative Designer: Tang Hua
Design Team: Dai Qiong, Zheng Qing, Wang Pengfu, Yang Yuan, Yan Peiqi, Tang Mengchan, Liu Huawei, Zheng Chenxi, Wang Tianhao
Construction Drawing Design: China Machinery United Engineering Co., Ltd
Landscape Design: Yimu Qianjue Landscape Design Co., Ltd
Floodlight Design: Beijing Guanghu Purui Lighting Design Co., Ltd
Exhibition Design: Silk Road Vision Technology Co., Ltd
Project Owner: Chongqing Liangjiang Collaborative Innovation Zone Construction Investment Development Co., Ltd
EPC Units: China Construction Third Engineering Group Co., Ltd. and China Machinery United Engineering Co., Ltd
Project Photography: Millimeter Architecture, RudyDong Architecture Visual
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