Guocai Center

architecture
CENTRAL-SOUTH ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN INSTITUTE

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The project is to design public spaces for an office complex Guo Cai Center located in Optics
Valley ,Wuhan.
FACTS
Optics Valley, located in Wuhan East Lake High-tech Development Zone, is the birthplace of
the first optical fiber and proprietary ultra-long-haul optical transmission system in China. Small
startup enterprises and international powerhouses have flocked to the metropolis of more than
10 million people, attracted by high-quality talent resources; according to government data, 70
percent of the permanent resident population in Optics Valleys is youth under 30 years old.
FORESIGHT
In recent years, interest in traditional Chinese culture has surged among Chinese millennials.
Digging into their culture and heritage has become a very popular way for China’s younger
generation to explore their own identities. The country’s long and complex history offers
discoveries that go well beyond state-sanctioned national pride. These younger generations
are developing a profound interest in their country’s material historical culture and forging
emotional connections to their aesthetics.
INSPIRATIONS
Early Chinese philosophical and historical texts contain sophisticated conceptions of the
nature of the cosmos. These ideas predate the formal development of the native belief systems
of Daoism and Confucianism, and, as part of the foundation of Chinese culture, they were
incorporated into the fundamental tenets of these two philosophies.
“For the immensity of the world is revealed only by the function of water, and water encircles
and embraces it through the pressure of mountains. If the mountains and water do not come
together and function, there will be nothing to circulate with or about, nothing to embrace. And
if there is no circulation and embracing, there will be no means of life and growth.”
Lin Yutang, Chinese philosopher