The Ascentage Pharmaceutical Headquarters is a new modern R&D and manufacturing complex spanning 147,000 square meters in Suzhou, designed for a young Hong Kong-based pharmaceutical company listed on the stock exchange. 

Symbolizing the aspirations of Ascentage’s culture, which has advanced research in biotechnology and developed promising new cancer drugs to enhance the quality of life for a future generation affected by diseases once deemed untreatable or incurable; this cutting-edge campus was brought to life using some of the most technologically advanced digital design and fabrication tools.

Open, clean, and modern, the public and employee-programmed volumes of the seven buildings on the new campus are discrete curvilinear forms, soft in nature, elevated above a glass base in a floating composition over a black granite-clad reflecting pool facing the main Xinqing Road.

The 80-meter-tall R&D and Administration Building, the new iconic symbol of Ascentage, stands proudly at the bustling southwest corner of the site on Xinqing Road, adjacent to a new mass transit subway station.

Ascentage Pharma, Courtesy of OLI Architects

Inspired by the benzene ring of the chemical formula used to annotate the planar bonds of the six carbon and hydrogen molecules, the facade of each building volume is carefully designed using the hexagon of the benzene ring as the foundational form. It is then engineered to fold parametrically, enveloping the seven distinct building volumes. 

These parametrically modeled facades, using adaptable BIM families, were digitally fabricated using panels of ultra-high-strength concrete and anodized aluminum nodes and extrusions, resulting in distinct facade designs that achieve an optimal balance between visual transparency and privacy.

Ascentage Pharma, Courtesy of OLI Architecture

Alongside new high-tech research laboratories and an expansive advanced manufacturing setup, suffused with ample diffuse natural light filtering through its translucent roof, the thoughtfully programmed arrangement of the project’s buildings on the 60,870-square-meter site creates a unique campus and new identity for Ascentage’s promising future.

Executed by OLI Architecture for a young Hong Kong-listed pharmaceutical company, the project symbolizes the aspirations of Ascentage’s culture, which, through cutting-edge research in biotechnology, has developed promising new cancer drugs for a future generation affected by diseases once thought untreatable or incurable. This state-of-the-art campus came to fruition utilizing some of the most technologically advanced digital design and fabrication tools, including parametric technology.