Advanced 4-Storey office building under development in Guangdong province
Project Description:
Project Name: Foshan Yiyuan Exhibition Hall
Project Location: Mingcheng Town, Foshan City, Guangdong Province
Developer: Foshan Yiyuan Crafts Co.,Ltd
Design Institute: The Architectural Design & Research Institute of SCUT Co., Ltd.
Building Size: Four-storey timber structure building with an area of 2,527.95 m2
Estimated Completion Date: Early 2023
The Foshan Yiyuan Exhibition Hall is new wood project being constructed in Mingcheng Town of Foshan City, which is recognized as a national ecological demonstration town. This project, as part of Foshan Yiyuan Crafts Co., Ltd’s office building, will be used to showcase the company’s wood handicrafts and techniques of wood carving in interior decorations. The building is a 4-storey timber structure, composed of standard timber used as floor, beam, column, partition wall and staircase with a total construction area of 2,527.95 m2. It is designed to incorporate prefabricated components, supporting a passive house energy consumption standard and a digital integrated management system. The components of the wood structure are exposed through the inside the building, which gives a natural charm to the structure. After completion, it will be the first all wooden construction 4-storey building in Guangdong province, making a strong case to demonstrate the low carbon, energy efficiency and prefabrication of timber structure.
Foshan Yiyuan Crafts Co., Ltd (Yiyuan) is a key industry player introduced by Guangdong Provincial Construction Sustainable and Prefabricated Industry Association (GDCSDA), an organization promoting green and prefabricated development under the Guangdong provincial Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development (MOHURD), after attending the Industrial Construction seminar organized by CW China. The company was invited to join the “Try Canadian Wood” Campaign and produced furniture in different styles with hemlock provided by CW China in 2019. Photographs of these delicate furniture pieces have been included in the “CW China Product Manual of Western Hemlock” to promote Canadian Hemlock branding campaign and reach out to more potential trial partners.
In June 2019, CW China organized a six-day outbound mission with representatives from Yiyuan to visit major hemlock and SPF suppliers in Canada. After the mission, the company had a deeper understanding of wood construction in realizing ultra-low energy and green development and began to be interested in wood prefabrication.
As the company developed their partnership with CW China, they were planning to construct a new office building to display its products, with the exhibition hall intended to be a concrete structure. Convinced by the applications of Canadian wood in manufacturing as well as the wood projects they visited in Canada, the company changed their planned building from concrete to a timber structure. The Technical Services team from CW China supported this project in four areas: structural design, architectural design, shop drawing design and energy efficiency design to optimize the connections and create proposals for the lumber prefabrication and construction. On-site technical training including general wood-frame training for prefabrication, wood wall quality inspection training and wood wall installation quality inspection to be conducted after the project starts construction. After continuous in-depth communications, the collaboration between CW China and Yiyuan has extended from wood in manufacturing to wood in construction with prefabrication and energy efficiency.
Currently, the Foshan Yiyuan Exhibition Hall has already received the construction permit and is expected to be completed by early 2023. Once the exhibition hall is completed, the furniture they produced with Canadian hemlock will also be displayed, showcasing applications of Canadian wood in construction as well as in manufacturing. On June 18, 2020, the GDCSDA established a new sub-association, for Prefabricated Wood Construction. Taking on the role as a corporate Chair of the sub-association, Yiyuan will continue to cooperate with CW China in the future to promote and develop the applications of wood in Guangdong Province, and to integrate Canadian best practices for sustainable development within the local development in China.