Dong-E E-Jiao Biotech Park

The Dong-E E-Jiao Biotech Park in Shangdong Province, China, integrates various functions—such as research and development, quality control and industrial tourism—with the production of e-jiao, or donkey hide gelatin, a traditional health supplement.

The grounds have been renovated to improve the factory’s aesthetic and tourism values for visitors and to showcase the enterprise’s international image. It also creates a pleasant daily work-and-rest environment for the company’s employees.

SED Landscape Architects completed the landscape design for four areas within the factory grounds—office building front plaza; main entrance roundabout area; museum area; and visitor centre front plaza.

As the office building functions as the factory’s administration centre, its front plaza is designed for a sense of both solemnity and approachability, with clearly segmented pavements, water features and greenery. The landscape designers introduced a pixel concept with the weathering steel planters by the office building, where different herbs will be planted in different cubes to emphasise the healthcare concept of e-jiao.

At the roundabout down from the main entrance stands a statue of Tao Hongjing, a medical scientist in the Northern and Southern Dynasties who documented and classified the e-jiao. Close to that runs the Life Canal, a water-recycling system within a hexagon-patterned hollow steel structure built across linear-textured pavements.

Around the museum, the greenery merges with naturally winding water to create a graceful and dynamic shared space, while the geometrical elements of the visitor centre’s architectural façade are tactfully interpreted into its front plaza. The simple tri-toned triangular pavement blocks combine with herbs and trees to highlight the ecological healthcare concept.

PROJECT DATA
Project Name: Dong-E E-Jiao Biotech Park
Location: Liaocheng, Shangdong Province, China
Completion Date: 2017
Site Area: 154,222 square metres
Client/Owner: Dong-E E-Jiao Group
Architecture Firm: Five Plus Design
Interior Design Firm: Five Plus Design
Principal Designer: Su Yingzi, Five Plus Design
Civil & Structural Engineer: Xu Yanfei
Mechanical & Electrical Engineer: Li Xin, Ji’nan Tongyuan Design Institute
Lighting Consultant: Xiang Min, Leox Design Partnership
Landscape Architect: Huang Jianfeng, SED Landscape Architects Ltd
Main Contractor: Shandong Hongji Dingcheng Construction Engineering Co, Ltd
Images: SED Landscape Architects Ltd