Architectural Design Research Institute of SCUT
 
time: 2018-12-25

Architectural Design and Research Institute of South China University of Technology is a well-known Class-A design and research institute in China. It possesses multiple qualifications for architectural activities such as engineering design, examination of construction drawings of architectural projects (including out-of-codes high-rise buildings), design of intelligent system engineering projects, engineering consultation, city planning, municipal public utilities, and engineering exploration. It has passed the ISO9001 quality system verification. After 30 years of development, our institute has become a leading architectural design institute of its kind in China with great technological strength, reasonable staffing structure, complete supporting facilities, advanced designing methodologies and robust quality insurance system. 

At present, our institute has 332 staff members, including 1 academician from Chinese Academy of Engineering, 111 professors, researchers, professor-level senior engineers, senior architects and senior engineers, 52 first-grade registered architects, and 27 first-grade registered structural engineers. Nearly half of our technicians possess Master’s or above degrees. We also have a bunch of professional technical leaders with broad academic backgrounds, who serve as a force to raise our designing capability and comprehensive competitiveness. Devoted to meticulous design and creative ideas, we have designed a number of representative and excellent projects, including the Museum of the Nanyue King’s Tomb of the Western Han Dynasty, terminal of Zhuhai Airport, Zhejiang University, NanHai Campus of South China Normal University, Metro Plaza, China Mayors Plaza, Xinghai Concert Hall, Guangdong Olympic Stadium, Guangzhou International Conference and Exhibition Center, Leshan Grand Buddha Museum, Nanjing Massacre Museum, Badminton Gym and Wrestling Gym for Beijing Olympics, and China Pavilion of Shanghai Expo. We have won over 100 ministerial-level awards for excellent designs, including one International Outstanding Achievement Award, one Top-10 Scientific and Technological Achievements Award, three National Gold Awards, eight National Silver Awards, four National Bronze Awards, the First Prize for Excellent Design granted by the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Construction, the Creativity Award granted by Architectural Society of China, and other highest honors for architectural designs. From 1989 to 2008 alone, we were granted 6 first awards, 11 second awards and 17 third awards for national outstanding designs. In terms of the number of awards, our institute ranks the first among the design institutes in Guangdong and the sixth among industrial and civil architectural design institutes in China.   

Our institute has established itself as a brand for designing cultural architecture, education architecture, mega-high-rise architecture, sports architecture and exhibition architecture. 

As a design institute on education architecture, we have always attached importance to the design of education architecture. Many of our designs were recognized and awarded in national design competitions. In recent years, our institute has successively won the bids for architectural planning and design projects of higher education institutes, such as Nanjing Xianlin University Town, Shanghai Songjiang University Town, Guangzhou University Town, and Chongqing University Town. We have managed to present a number of well-received education architecture designs, such as designs for the new campus of Zhejiang University, Donghua University, Jiangnan University, China University of Mining & Technology, Zhengzhou University and Nanhai Campus of South China Normal University. From 2002 to 2003 alone, we have signed 83 contracts for the planning of university campus and architectural design, making our institute a brand of education architectural design in the industry.

In terms of cultural and exhibition architecture, our institute has made some remarkable achievements and designed a batch of landmark works, including China Pavilion of Shanghai Expo 2010, Guangzhou International Conference and Exhibition Center, Guangdong Modern Exhibition Center, Museum of the Nanyue King’s Tomb of the Western Han Dynasty, Zhuhai Airport, Guangzhou Xinghai Concert Hall, Phase II Project of Nanjing Massacre Museum, Beijing Research Center for Tibet Culture, Humen Opium War Museum, and Leshan Grand Buddha Museum. 

In terms of high-rise and mega-high-rise architecture, our institute has successively designed over ten mega-high-rise buildings of over 150.0 meters high, such as Metro Plaza, Foshan International Commerce Center, Huayuan Office Building, West Tower of Zhujiang New Town in Guangzhou. We have accumulated rich experience in the design and research of mega-high-rise buildings. We take the lead in the testing and engineering of steel tube concrete structure of high-rise buildings among our counterparts nationwide. Furthermore, we have participated in compiling the National Code for Design and Construction of Steel Tube Concrete Structure, and took charge of the complying of the Supplementary Provisions of Guangdong Province on Technical Code for Concrete Structure of High-rise Buildings (JGJ3-2002)and the Technical Code of Guangdong Province for Concrete Structure of High-rise Buildings.

In terms of sports architecture, we have successively designed Guangdong Olympic Stadium, Shooting Range of Guangdong Olympic Sports Center, Guangdong International Marine Sports Base, Foshan Sports Center, Yulin Stadium, Xinhui Stadium, Chaozhou Stadium, Sports Center of Hehai University and many other projects. Most encouraging of all, we have won the bids for the designing of the Badminton Gym and Wrestling Gym for 2008 Beijing Olympic Games in international bidding, which was a rare case in the Olympic history and a sensation nationwide.

Our institute integrates engineering design with research and education. In addition to the great achievements we have obtained in engineering design and education, we have also made outstanding contribution to scientific research. In recent years, we have managed to apply the results of theoretical researches to practice in a scientific and practicable manner. In the design of Xinghai Concert Hall, we directly used the curved surfaces of the reinforced-concrete hyperbolic parabolas as the interfaces for sound fields and made autistic adjustments accordingly, managing to ensure the traditional first-class sound quality for western classic music (that is, the natural sounds from the musical instruments). In the project of Guangzhou International Conference and Exhibition Center, we managed to construct a central area covering 400,000 square meters, a concrete floor spanning 30 meters both in length and width, and a steel roof spanning 126.6 meters. We applied a series of new materials and new technologies in detailed design of the roofing system, so as to deliver the architectural effects and satisfy the functional requirements of the Center. In addition, we made several breakthroughs in terms of the anti-erosion performance, water-proofing performance, decoration effects as well as expansion and contraction ability of the project. 

Professor He Jingtang, Dean of our institute, is an academician from Chinese Academy of Engineering, a well-known architectural designer in China, and the winner of first Liang Sicheng Architecture Award. He has not only designed many influential works in China, but also achieved a lot in developing architecture theories. He has mentored a number of quick-minded and well-educated young engineers, and established the working style of our institute which values creativity, progressiveness and perfection. 

Adhering to our quality policy of “carrying forward the advantages of education architecture design, fostering the awareness of perfection, creating excellent design and providing sincere services”, we are devoted to providing excellent designs and high-quality services for all walks of life.