Project Case Study | Beijing's First Large-Scale Zero-Carbon Commercial Office Building with Photovoltaic Storage Direct Flexible System: China Merchants Financial Center (Daji Lane)

As the first large-scale urban renewal project in the capital's core area after the successful application for World Heritage status of Beijing's central axis, Daji Lane has achieved innovation and breakthrough leadership in technology while protecting historical features and activating consumption scenarios. Guided by the concept of "People's City," China Merchants Land, taking digitalization and low-carbonization as its core, has carried out systematic technological innovation, transforming this quadrangle courtyard area into a livable, resilient, and smart modern sustainable development community over nine years, providing a "China Merchants Technology Solution" that can be used as a reference for urban organic renewal.

The project is located at the southeast corner of Caishikou Road intersection in Xicheng District, Beijing, covering an area of approximately 60,400 square meters and with a construction area of 366,600 square meters. The China Merchants Financial Center consists of seven headquarters-level office buildings, and China Merchants Daji Lane is an innovative three-dimensional commercial street area in the style of a quadrangle courtyard.

 

Boasting important historical buildings such as Kang Youwei's former residence, the project carries the legacy of the century-old Xuanwu culture. It is an exploration and practice of urban renewal in the capital's core area, integrating multiple themes such as cultural relic protection and repair, commercial revitalization, new office buildings, ecological creation, and energy-saving demonstration. Through urban renewal strategies of cultural relic protection, commercial heritage, technological leadership, and ecological outlook, it forms a replicable "multi-industry integrated landscape area urban renewal implementation plan" for the capital's core area, creating a Beijing model for promoting high-quality development of urban renewal in the capital's core area.

 

China Merchants has created a digital technology platform model that encompasses a comprehensive technical solution across multiple dimensions, including structural foundations, municipal pipelines, energy facilities, and smart operation layouts. and creatively carried out a "digital urban base" renewal action in the Daji quadrangle courtyard area: the water, electricity, sewage, and telecommunications systems in the area were comprehensively overhauled through an underground micro-corridor system, integratively solving the inconvenience of life in the old quadrangle courtyards. It's like replacing the "brain center" and "meridian system" for the quadrangle courtyard area, solving water and electricity safety hazards at once, effectively improving urban governance efficiency and resilience, helping the city's sustainable and healthy development, and preserving the human touch and vitality of the hutongs.

 

Leading technological innovation and forging a model for the times.

 

As the only newly built TOD complex within the second ring road in the capital's core area, the China Merchants Financial Center takes "zero-carbon buildings" as a breakthrough point, integrating green genes into the entire life cycle of the building. The China Merchants Financial Center project includes seven office buildings, among which Building 1 innovatively integrates the "photovoltaic storage direct flexible" technology system, creating Beijing's first zero-carbon commercial office building and a demonstration plan for the integrated application of photovoltaic storage direct flexible technology.

 

China Merchants Financial Center Building 1 focuses on four major categories and 18 technical measures, including passive technology to reduce demand, active technology to improve efficiency, energy transformation to reduce emissions, and low-carbon construction to reduce embodied carbon, creating a green, environmentally friendly, and efficient office environment.

 

 

The over 8-meter-high green immersive lobby is the first impression of the China Merchants Financial Center. The moment you step inside, you can feel the close connection with nature.

 

In the morning, the soft sunlight pours in through the glass curtain wall, casting flowing shadows on the workstations, creating a beautiful and flowing atmosphere that helps start the day in a good mood. The high-efficiency LED lighting fixtures with built-in light sensors can intelligently adjust according to the natural light; the pilot full-spectrum lighting fixtures simulate sunlight, achieving visual light perception consistency between the inside and outside. From morning to dusk, the boundary between artificial and natural light is blurred, allowing every moment of focus to be immersed in the rhythm of light and shadow that feels like being in nature.

 

The dry air handling unit coil combined with an independent fresh air conditioning system, when the 24°C constant temperature airflow gently flows through the space, the fresh air exchange of an average of 3 times per hour injects a sense of breathing in sync with nature into the room. The photovoltaic storage direct flexible system reduces noise throughout the process, and the design of openable windows allows office workers to fully enjoy the birdsong and flowers outside.

 

The smart energy management platform is like the digital heart of the China Merchants Financial Center building, calculating the building's energy-saving formula in real time. When the photovoltaic curtain wall meets the office power needs, the remaining electricity can be stored in the liquid flow battery system. These technological innovations hidden in the building's texture not only make low-carbon office work a truly perceptible daily experience, but also explore an innovative technological path for carbon reduction and renewal in high-density urban areas.

 

The project provides a carbon-neutral technological path for large-scale commercial buildings. Starting with the positive application of BIM technology in the design scheme stage, it realizes the one-to-one transmission of the BIM model from the design stage to the construction and operation stages, helping to improve design quality and efficient management, cost reduction, and efficiency improvement during the construction process, providing the industry with a new digital management project case and reference direction. Research has formed a full-energy steel structure beam and slab technology system under extreme conditions, solving the problem of net height realization under the height restrictions of buildings in the capital's core area, improving land use efficiency and economic benefits for urban renewal in the capital's core area, and providing technical solutions.

 

Respecting the spatial genes and constructing an open texture. Following the design concept of "respect, inheritance, leadership, and outlook," the project optimizes and coordinates urban design, preserving the texture of three historical hutongs: Misi Hutong, Beidaji Lane, and Bao'an Temple Street. Integrating the three historical hutongs into an "up and down linked" strolling planning structure of "two longitudinal and three transverse," it reduces the ground area occupied by 70%, connecting the cultural relic protection area, green space, urban texture patching area, Class II construction control area, sunken street area, and first-floor corridors with urban public spaces such as subways, roads, and parks, creating a barrier-free traditional street block open urban space integrating leisure, commerce, and office functions.

Paying tribute to historical context and inheriting architectural essence. Taking the cultural relic protection area as the core, an innovative three-dimensional commercial street area is planned from west to east, gradually developing into office buildings, realizing the evolution from traditional to contemporary. Three cultural relic buildings, Kang Youwei's former residence, the building at No. 29 Misi Hutong (Lao Pianyi Fang), and the former site of "Weekly Review," are revitalized, constructing a cultural story chain of historical figures. Traditional building techniques and new technical materials are combined for repair and reconstruction, giving an overall sense of ancient history. The commercial courtyard connects the cultural relic protection area and the office group, achieving a transition in architectural style by extracting the form, texture, and color genes of ancient buildings. The office buildings adopt a three-part design, forming a coordinated transition with the urban interface through eaves and roof setbacks. Modern elements such as unit curtain walls, deep champagne-colored metal profiles, and aluminum plates are integrated, highlighting the building's high-end temperament and elegant quality. From cultural relic buildings to modern buildings, a dialogue between ancient and modern times is formed in visual language, inheriting the past, rejuvenating the present, and blending old and new, shining together.

Looking forward to an ecological future and creating multi-dimensional scenarios. The central green space is located in the southeast corner of the plot, featuring the "Da Ji Magic Cube Technology Gate," a low-carbon garden, an energy experience hall, a lawn theater, and a forest terrace. It integrates with the community's central green space to the southeast, returning green space to the public and creating a healthy, energy-efficient office product and an urban green garden that combines urban memory, urban ecology, and urban vitality. This provides citizens with multi-dimensional activity spaces.

The China Overseas Da Ji Lane project is a key node in urban renewal. It responds to policy requirements for improving the quality of the core area while meeting high-end market demands through market-oriented operations. It combines economic benefits with social value, contributing to the construction of Beijing as an "internationally first-class harmonious and livable city."

 

Source: WeChat Official Accounts of Beijing Architectural Design & Research Institute and China Overseas Land & Investment Limited