Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University Central Building

Xi’an Jiaotong – Liverpool University is a new international university jointly founded by Xi’an Jiaotong University China and the University of Liverpool UK. As an independent Sino-Foreign cooperative university, it is the first and only one of its kind approved by the Ministry of Education in China, offering undergraduate degree programmes in the fields of science, engineering and management. The design for its Administration Information Building was inspired by the famous Taihu Stone unearthed in the Taihu lake area west of Suzhou city.Taihu Stone is referred as scholar’s stone, as it is appreciated by Chinese scholars. The pores and holes of the Taihu Stones are transformed into a void structure with functional spaces linking up different programmes in the building, including an administration center, a learning and resources center, a training center and a student activities center. The series of voids allow the building to respond to the users and surrounding context to form interactive spaces for people. They also provide rooms for sustainable features such as the use of natural daylight and natural ventilation. The different heights of voids with landscaped spaces create a three-dimensional Suzhou garden within the building.