Fusing art, industry and research to catalyse innovation
Shanghai’s latest science park promises to fuel innovation around biomedicine, medical technology, artificial intelligence, the digital economy and semiconductors.
上海最大之一的科技园——“张江之尚”，是一个位于张江科学城副中心核心区域的工业遗存再利用城市更新项目；将推动生物医药、医疗技术、数字经济、人工智能和半导体领域的创新与发展。“张江之尚”由上海地产集团携手张江集团共同打造，是张江科学城副中心珍贵的工业遗存。
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灰暗而巨大的窑炉。直插云霄的烟囱。巍峨的筒仓与仓库。
But that's precisely what an ambitious multinational team of architects and Chinese visionaries want you to think of the old Pudong Cement Factory in Zhangjiang town, 23 kilometres east of downtown Shanghai.
但这正是中国企业家和一群跨国建筑师联合团队组成的梦之队，希望在这样一个位于上海浦东张江地区、距离上海市中心约30分钟车程（车行23公里）的老水泥厂的基础上创造的空间的无限可能。
Since mid-2023, the team has been working to transform the sprawling 117,000 squaremetre factory into a science and innovation park called Zhangjiang Shang. Once complete, it will be able to house more than 500 research institutions, business incubators, startups, technology centres and service platforms.
自2023年年中以来，该团队一直在努力将占地117,000平方米的工厂改造成一个科技和创新园区——张江之尚，它能够容纳超过500个研究机构、企业孵化器、初创公司、技术中心和服务平台。
Many of these will be in research fields China is actively pushing, including biomedicine, medical technology, the digital economy, artificial intelligence, and semiconductors, says city developer, Jiwei Sun, the project's chief consultant.
“这些机构将专注于中国正在积极推动的研究领域，包括生物医药、医疗技术、数字经济、人工智能和半导体“城市开发者及张江之尚项目总顾问孙继伟先生表示。
两个世界的碰撞
Besides injecting new life into the historically significant Pudong Cement Factory, the park will also feature entertainment, sport and dining venues, as well as green areas and housing.
But Zhangjiang Shang's unique selling point will be how it weaves art and culture into its core "to stimulate the creativity of scientists," says Sun.
Dreaming up solutions to tackle today's challenges puts demands on a working environment that go well beyond requests for "air conditioning, elevators and transportation," agrees architect Bing Shen, director of Zhangjiang Shang's architectural design team.
Mr. Bing Shen, Person-in-Charge of the Architectural Design of the Shang Project 张江之尚项目建筑设计负责人 沈兵先生
Once completed in 2027, Zhangjiang Shang aims to be a leader among the more than 80 science parks strung across China's major cities. Already, China boasts 26 of the world's top 100 science and technology innovation clusters — the highest internationally, according to the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO)'s 2024 Global Innovation Index. By comparison, the US has 20 such clusters, followed by Germany with eight, and India and South Korea with four apiece.
技术推进
Countries build science and technology parks, such as Zhangjiang Shang, to gain a technological edge to propel their economic development and enhance their competitiveness on a global stage. As WIPO Director-General Daren Tang explained when the 2024 WIPO Index was released: "Science and technology clusters are the foundation of robust national innovation ecosystems."
The premise of a cluster is simple: offer a setting where the disparate worlds of academia and industry can interact, speeding the translation of research into real-world technologies.
On this front, Zhangjiang Shang offers an added benefit: choice location. "It is in the core of Zhangjiang Science City," says Hui Peng, deputy general manager of the Shanghai Housing and Land (Group) Co., Ltd., which is developing the park, and director of the Zhangjiang Shang project.
创新激发
Zhangjiang Science City is often considered Shanghai's Silicon Valley — a hotbed for AI giants such as Microsoft and IBM. Zhangjiang Science City is part of the Golden Central Development Belt in the city's New Pudong Area, a 29-kilometre innovation corridor served by an international airport and multiple train and tram lines, including the highspeed maglev. Zhangjiang Shang will be at its heart.
China has come a long way since its first science and tech park, Zhongguancun, was inaugurated in Beijing in 1988. Since then, R&D spending has grown exponentially. The government will raise science and technology funding by a further 10% this year.
Science and technology has underpinned many of China's greatest achievements, from making history retrieving samples from the far side of the Moon, to constructing the first quantum communications satellite and having the world's most sensitive ultra-high-energy cosmic-ray detector.
On the world science stage, the nation's researchers command a strong presence. Its universities clinched eight of the top 10 spots in the 2024 CWTS Leiden Ranking, which evaluates the scientific performance of institutions based on their publications produced over a 4-year period.
In 2022, China took top spot from the United States for contributions to research articles published in the Nature Index group of high-quality natural science journals.
The upcoming Zhangjiang Shang could add to its accomplishments. Its 28 buildings and surrounding landscape have been designed by 11 master architects, including Tadao Ando Architect and Associates. Their unique styles will "ensure each building has its own personality," says Peng. They will also pay careful attention to preserving the site's historical identity. For instance, Tadao Ando Architect and Associates' striking redesign of the old cement plant leaves some silos standing, while cutting others at an angle to allow more natural light to enter and "create a new poetic experience."
建成后的张江之尚未来为科研人员的创新进一步赋能。它将包括28栋建筑，由11位精心挑选的大师级建筑师设计，其中包括安藤忠雄建筑事务所。他们独特的风格将“确保每栋建筑都拥有自己的个性”，彭晖先生说。设计师们还保留水泥厂遗存设施的空间特色。例如，安藤忠雄事务所对老水泥厂两座筒仓的重新设计，一栋重塑了筒仓腔体空间，而另一栋形态上进行斜切处理，让更多的自然光照入其内部的作用，“创造出全新的诗意空间体验。”
The architects will also incorporate sustainable elements, installing green roofs and using bioswales—or vegetated channels—to collect and filter stormwater runoff.
艺术表达
But one of the most unique aspects of the park will be the prominence of art. Fifty percent of its indoor and outdoor space will be reserved for exhibitions, including "cross-border art forms that combine technology and art," says Sun. "Culture and art will be used for motivation and energy".
"The art will be a fundamental starting point for stimulating people's creativity," adds Peng.
Rather than simply designing a functional space, architects need to "provide scientists with a creative environment — a place that is diverse, rich, multi-layered and interesting to promote active thinking and allow them to form better ideas," says Shen. "Our goal is to ignite that spark."
《自然》是世界上最早的科学期刊之一，也是全世界最权威及最有名望的学术期刊之一，首版于1869年11月4日。虽然今天大多数科学期刊都专一于一个特殊的领域，《自然》是少数依然发表来自很多科学领域的一手研究论文的期刊。在许多科学研究领域中，每年最重要、最前沿的研究结果是在《自然》中以短文章的形式发表的。
张江之尚
“张江之尚”项目由上海地产集团携手张江集团联袂打造，位于张江科学城核心区，是以水泥厂为基底的工业遗存更新和再利用项目。项目总规模44万平方米，聚焦生物医药、人工智能和数字经济三大类产业，总计28栋建筑，含19栋花园独栋研发建筑、4栋研发办公建筑，5栋文化商业建筑，预计于2027年竣工。
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