Announcement: International Architectural Design Competition of China Artificial Intelligence (Guangzhou) Industrial Park18 min read

Project Qualification

The project of China Artificial Intelligence (Guangzhou) Industrial Park has been approved for construction by Tianhe District Development and Reform Bureau of Guangzhou Municipality with Guangdong Provincial Enterprise Investment Project Registration Certificate (Project Code: 2206-440106-04-01-130031). The project owner is Guangzhou New Generation Artificial Intelligence Industrial Park Management Co., Ltd., and all the construction funds are raised by the project owner. As the project has met all applicable conditions, a competition is hereby launched on the architectural design of the project.

 

Project Overview

1. Competition Name: International Architectural Design Competition of China Artificial Intelligence (Guangzhou) Industrial Park
2. Background

China Artificial Intelligence (Guangzhou) Industrial Park is located in the Guangzhou Artificial Intelligence and Digital Economy Pilot Zone. The park aims to advance the national digital economy strategy, further integrate the digital economy with the real economy, and contribute to the development of national pilot zones of artificial intelligence and the digital economy.

The project sits around the former site of Guangzhou No.2 Cotton Mill and will be divided into two parts in its future development. The western part will be for new buildings, with a focus on fostering a digital, green, and international city and a global headquarter of artificial intelligence, digital economy, and digital culture. The eastern part, where some historical buildings (workshops) of Guangzhou No.2 Cotton Mill are preserved, will be developed into a cultural and art platform for sharing and exchanges. The goal is to make full use of the historical and cultural value of the area and unlock new vitality for the ancient city of Guangzhou. The synchronous progress of these two parts will facilitate Guangzhou to become a leader in the industrial coordination in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and a pioneer of world-class industries, while creating a valuable urban space of high quality, high capacity, and high efficiency.

The project is situated in the Guangzhou Artificial and Digital Economy Pilot Zone, downtown Guangzhou. Aside from its superior geographic location, it boasts a convenient transportation network that includes Hua’nan Expressway, Huacheng Avenue, Metro Line 5 (completed), and Line 30 (under construction). Especially, the station of Line 30 will be connected to the project underground when it is accomplished.

3. Location

The project is situated in the Guangzhou Artificial and Digital Economy Pilot Zone, downtown Guangzhou. Aside from its superior geographic location, it boasts a convenient transportation network that includes Hua’nan Expressway, Huacheng Avenue, Metro Line 5 (completed), and Line 30 (under construction). Especially, the station of Line 30 will be connected to the project underground when it is accomplished.

Map of Location

 

Project Scope

The scope of the project reaches Yuancun West Street in the north, Huacheng Avenue in the south, Yuancun South Street in the east, and Hua’nan Expressway in the west. The total area is 97,173.33 square meters (within the property boundary), and the net area is 70,048 square meters (including the construction land and green space in both the western and eastern parts). Specifically, the eastern part covers 32,283 square meters, where the Bauhaus historic buildings in the core protection area need to be preserved and renovated； the west block covers 37,765 square meters, which will be the main area for new constructions.

This is an architectural design project for China Artificial Intelligence (Guangzhou) Industrial Park. The design plan should cover buildings, historical architecture renovation, public spaces, transportation systems, green landscapes, etc. within the scope of the project.

Project Scope

Aerial View of the Project site

• The project covers a gross floor area of roughly 353,700 square meters and the budget for construction and installation fee is RMB 3.76 billion.
• The detailed regulatory planning attributes of plot West 1 are Other Business Land and Commercial Land (B29B1), with the main land use functions being commercial and service support, business, and office. The gross floor area is approximately 330,500 square meters, of which 32,400 square meters are for commercial use and 298,100 square meters are for offices (including supporting residential buildings). The non-floor area (underground parking, equipment rooms, etc.) should be set up in accordance with the requirements of relevant laws and regulations and the needs of the plan.
• The detailed regulatory planning attributes of plot East 1 are other business land, art and media land, and commercial land (B29B22B1), mainly to create a shared space for exchanges such as expositions, lectures, and conferences.
• Plots East 2 and 3 are classified as parkland (G1), whose main functions are to increase open public space, activate the space of historic buildings, and create a small parkland with recreational functions； the total area of these two plots is 2,878 square meters. The detailed regulatory planning attributes of plots West 2 and East 4 are protective green space (G2) with a total area of 5,114 square meters. G1 and G2 are non-building plots and their landscape design should be considered as a whole with the landscape design of building plots.
• The width of planned road one is 20m and the road section needs to be designed under the condition that the planned alignment remains unchanged.

Map of Project Site

 

Participant Name

1. Sponsor：Guangzhou New Generation Artificial Intelligence Industrial Park Management Co., Ltd.
2. Organizer：Guangzhou Urban Planning and Design Co., Ltd.
3. Agency: Guangzhou Construction Engineering Supervision Co., Ltd.

 

Competition Mode

A. Competition Form

This competition will be announced on the websites of China Tendering and Bidding Public Service Platform (http://www.cebpubservice.com/), ABBS Architecture Forum (http://www.abbs.com.cn/) and Guangzhou Construction Engineering Supervision Co., Ltd.（http://www.gjjl.com/）, and the applications and registrations of domestic and foreign agencies will be publicly accepted.

• Selection Phase

This competition adopts a form of “invitation + open call”.

Through “invitation + open call”, six agencies will be selected and enter the design phase.

Invited agencies (in no particular order):
Gensler Architectural Design Firm (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. (Leader) , Guangdong Architectural Design & Research Institute Co., Ltd. (Member)
Gmp International GmbH (Leader), Guangdong Architectural Design & Research Institute Co., Ltd. (Member)
Architectural Design and Research Institute of South China University of Technology Co., Ltd. (Leader), Strabala+ architects LLC (Member)

Agencies selected by open call: Competition announcement will be published on the website, and the application is open to all domestic and foreign agencies. Experts will be organized to rank the applicants. The top three agencies will be selected as official participating agencies, and those ranking the fourth to the sixth will be selected as alternate participating agencies. If less than six agencies meet the requirements of public solicitation for the competition, sponsors can determine to extend the registration time according to the project situation.

After the release of selected agencies, if any selected agency (3 invited agencies + 3 agencies selected via open call) abandons for some reason, it will be substituted by the alternate agencies in turn.

• Selection Process

This competition includes two stages: qualification examination and merit-based comprehensive evaluation. First, experts are organized to examine the qualifications of all the agencies and determine their qualifications. Agencies that do not meet the qualification requirements are not allowed to go through merit-based comprehensive evaluation.

The evaluation committee will comprehensively evaluate the agencies on the basis of merit, and fully discuss and compare their qualifications after a careful study of their comprehensive competences, relevant achievements, comprehensive qualities, and conceptual proposals. By means of disclosed ballot, 3 participating agencies and 3 alternate agencies will be selected by public solicitation, and the list thereof will be reported to the competition sponsors.

B. Cost Compensation

The finalists who pass the validity examination will receive a cost compensation of RMB 500,000 (about US$74,000) (including but not limited to expenses for design, product production, design research, travel incurred in coordinating the communication meeting related to the projects, design copyright, and tax), while those who fail the validity examination will not receive any cost compensation or bonus.

C. Prizes and Bonuses

One or no first prize. The first-prize winner will be awarded a detailed design contract of about RMB 30 million (about US$4,445,000) (tax included), while no other bonuses will be given. The fee for the detailed design contract shall be subject to the standards provided in the Engineering Survey and Design Fee Management Regulations (Ji Jia Ge [2002] No. 10)； the tentative basic construction and installation fee will be RMB 3.76 billion (about US$557,212,000), and no other adjustment factors will be taken into account. The final design fee shall be adjusted according to the fee of construction and installation approved in the official reply to the estimated budget. The organizer reserves the right to leave the first prize vacant and reorganize the competition.

Two second prizes (in case of no first prize winner, three second prizes shall be granted), each receiving a bonus of RMB 1 million (about US$148,200) (tax included).

D. Payment Method

If, after evaluation, any agency that receives one or more of the compensation cost, winning bonus, and detailed design fee is a group, the competition sponsors will pay in full one or more thereof to the main account of the group, which will be redistributed by the group as per the proportion agreed in the Group Participation Agreement. The competition sponsors will not pay any additional fees to the members of the group.

The compensation cost, winning bonus, and detailed design fee of the design competition will be paid in RMB by the competition sponsors to the agencies, and any taxes incurred shall be borne by the agencies themselves. The cost compensation, bonus, and scheme integration and optimization fees will be paid in RMB to the domestic agencies in China.

Design institutions may co-own the intellectual property rights of their entries for the project with the competition sponsor. However, such design results can only be used in this project and shall not be provided to any third party for replication. In addition, sponsors have ownership of all the design results collected in this international competition. No design results will be returned to the agencies after evaluation. The agencies that submit the valid Registration Form according to the competition requirements are deemed to have agreed with all the terms and conditions herein.

E. Taxes and Fees

All income obtained by the participating institutions and their employees in China due to the performance of this contract must be paid in accordance with Chinese tax laws, and all taxes shall be borne by the participating institutions and their employees.

If the participating organization obtains income in China due to the performance of this contract, all fees that must be paid in accordance with the relevant laws, regulations and administrative rules of China, Guangdong Province and Guangzhou City shall be borne by the participating institution.

The domestic taxes and fees payable by the participating organizations can be deducted by the organizer each time the design fee is paid, and a copy of the tax receipt and payment receipt shall be sent to the participating institution.

All taxes and fees outside China arising from the performance of this contract shall be borne by the participating institutions.

 

Detailed Design Contract

The first prize winner of this project will be granted with a detailed design contract.

Detailed design contains: 1. Planning and professional designs (architecture, structure, landscape, decoration, curtain wall, electromechanics, intelligence, etc.)； 2. Preliminary architectural and structural design； 3. Guidance and cooperation in preliminary designs of other areas. The contractor shall give guidance to the design of construction drawings, and chief creative personnel shall be designated to give guidance on site during the process of project construction, with the cost calculated separately. The detailed design content and expenses are subject to the final detailed design contract. The design results shall meet the requirements of contents and depth of the corresponding design documents in the Regulations on the Depth of Architectural Engineering Design Document Preparation (2016 Edition) issued by the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development of the People’s Republic of China, and pass the preliminary design examination of the relevant specialties. On the basis of the above scope, the content and depth of the detailed design contract will be determined by negotiation between the competition sponsors and the winning design agency.

 

Competition Schedule

1. Announcement of the international competition and start accepting registrations from global institutions: July 26-August 22, 2022 (9:00-12:00 am, 14:00-17:00 pm, excluding holidays).
2. Receive the registration documents for the competition and send the competition documents: before 17:00 on August 22, 2022.
3. Receive conceptual proposals: before 17:00 on August 25, 2022.
4. Selection of participating institutions for public solicitation: late August 2022.
5. Notification of the selection results of the public call for participating institutions: late August 2022.
6. Publish the list of 6 shortlisted institutions: late August 2022.
7. Deadline for receiving questions for the first time: late September 2022.
8. Design time of the competition plan: from early September to early November 2022.
9. Mid-term inspection time of the competition plan: late September 2022.
10. Deadline for the second time to receive questions: early October 2022.
11. Evaluation of design results: All official participating institutions must deliver the final results of the competition to the designated place on November 4, 2022 (the specific time and place are subject to the written or email notification of the competition organizer).
12. Announcement of the winning scheme: The winning institution will be announced in mid-November 2022.

Note: All times are based on Beijing time, and the sponsor and organizer reserve the right to adjust the schedule.

 

Registration

1. Qualification Requirements

• There are no qualification requirements during the competition. If the agency granted with the detailed design contract in this competition does not have one of the following qualifications for domestic design, the agency shall unite with domestic agencies with the corresponding design qualifications before the signing of detailed design contract: a. Comprehensive Class-A Qualification for Engineering Design； Qualifications for Construction Engineering Design (Class-A in the construction industry or (Construction Engineering) Professional Class-A in the construction industry； c. Qualifications of Architecture Design Firm. There shall be no more than three agencies in a group, so that the scheme and the preliminary design will meet the relevant norms, regulations, and the requirements of administrative examination and approval departments in China and Guangzhou. Before signing a contract with the agencies to unite, the agency granted with the detailed design contract of this project shall submit the entrusted agency, the achievements of the proposed team, the relevant qualification documents, etc. to the competition sponsors for confirmation before entrusting.
• Agencies applying via open call shall have relevant achievements in undertaking architectural design projects from January 1, 2017 to the deadline of registration. (Copies of contracts and other supporting documents are required. For previous achievements undertaken by a group, relevant documents shall be provided to certify that the scope of work undertaken by the group in the project meets the requirements herein. The time of achievements calculation should be the time of signing the contract.)
• The leading designer must directly participate in the whole process of the competition, and personally attend the competition site to report the scheme at least twice. (If he cannot be present due to the COVID-19 travel restrictions, video reporting can be used.) The design agency shall ensure that the leading designer and the main designers participate in the design throughout the process, and that the person in charge of detailed design is just the leading designer, and may not be changed halfway. If the design agency is a group, the leading designer shall be a member of the leader of the group.
• Teams applying via open call can submit the conceptual proposal required for the design tasks in this competition. For the conceptual proposal, there are no requirements for the design depth. The electronic document of the proposal (sent to the e-mail of the competition agency: rgznjs2022 @163.com before 17:00 on August 25, 2022) and AO panels (single-sided, vertical, at most two panels, punched in four corners, and sent to the competition agency before 17:00 on August 25, 2022) shall be provided. The proposal shall be written in simplified Chinese or Chinese – other language. The content of the document is subject to the Chinese text.

Note: See Annex for details.

2. Registration Method

• Registration time: GMT+8 July 26-August 22, 2022. (On-site submissions will be accepted on 9:00-12:00 am, 14:00-17:00 pm,on working days； on-site submissions will not be accepted on legal holidays.)
• Registration method and steps: Interested agencies shall prepare registration documents (see Annex) according to the requirements for selecting documents, and deliver or mail Registration Form （see Annex 1）, List of registered design institutions （see Annex 2）, Format of Registration Documents （see Annex 3） in written form to the competition organizer before the deadline for submission. At the same time, the electronic documents shall be sent to the e-mail of the competition agency: rgznjs2022@163.com. Deadline for submission: Before 17:00, August 22, 2022. If the applicant mails the registration documents, the time of submission shall be the time when the competition organizer signs for the receipt of the registration documents. The written registration documents must be delivered to the site or mailed to the receiving address before the registration deadline. If the written registration documents are delivered before the registration deadline (subject to the mail receipt record or the on-site receipt form record), the registration is successful. If the written registration documents are not delivered or mailed before the deadline due to the mailing process or for other reasons, all the consequences arising during the process shall be borne by the agency that participates in the registration.

Receiving address:
Name of recipient: Guangzhou Construction Engineering Supervision Co., Ltd.
Receiver: Mr Li
Receiving address: Bidding Agency Department, 18F, No. 4, Guangwei Road, Yuexiu District, Guangzhou City, Guangdong Province
Tel: 8613535198587，8620-61101333-1865

 

3. Requirements for Documents

• The format and submission of the registration documents shall be in accordance with the requirements of Format of Registration Documents.
• The agency must prepare complete registration documents and bind them into a book or more books, if necessary. The cover of each book of registration documents separately bound must be stamped with the official seal of the agency. The registration documents shall be stamped with the official seal of the participating agency on the perforation and on each page. The agency’s representative can be its legal representative or authorized representative. A valid power of attorney signed by the legal representative shall be submitted together with the registration documents signed by the authorized representative.

Note: The registration documents stipulate that the group agreement shall be stamped with the official seal of the corresponding agency by each member, and other contents in the registration documents can be only stamped and signed by the main body of the group.

• The agency must bear all consequences caused by any errors or omissions in its registration documents.
• All registration documents shall be made in sextuplicate (one original and five duplicates marked with “original” and “duplicate”, and the electronic documents shall be sent to the e-mail of the competition agency. In case of any consistency, the written registration documents shall prevail). If the original is inconsistent with the duplicate, the original shall prevail. The registration documents shall be formally signed by the legally authorized representative of the agency, and any changes (if any) shall be signed by the original signer. The original shall be stamped with the seal of the agency in the position marked on the format document in addition to the seal on the perforation. (For a group, only the seal of the leader is required to be stamped on the perforation.)
• All registration documents shall be delivered to the full-time person in charge of the competition agency before the deadline for submission. Documents that arrive late will not be accepted. The competition agency will not take any responsibility for the damage or loss of registration documents caused by force majeure events.
• All registration documents must be sealed in an envelope or package with the official seal of the agency affixed to the seal. a. The original, b. the duplicates, and c. the Registration Form of the registration documents shall be bound separately and sealed together, and the following shall be written on the cover of envelope or package:

Registration Form

Recipient Name: Guangzhou Construction Engineering Supervision Co., Ltd.
Competition Name:：
Name of Design Agency:
Address of Design Agency:
Contacts:
Contact Tel.:
It cannot be opened before (deadline for submission of application documents)

 

Contact Information

Competition agency: Guangzhou Construction Engineering Supervision Co., Ltd.
Contact: Miss Xu, Miss Gan
Tel: 8620-61101333-1870, 8620-61101333-1867
Address: Bidding Agency Department, 18F, No. 4, Guangwei Road, Yuexiu District, Guangzhou City, Guangdong Province
E-mail: rgznjs2022@163.com

Specifications:

1. The design competition is governed by the laws of the People’s Republic of China. The competition work and all documents shall be consistent with Chinese laws. In case of any dispute, if negotiation fails, it shall be submitted to Guangzhou Arbitration Commission for arbitration. The arbitration award is final and binding on all parties.
2. This project is neither an essential bidding project nor a government procurement project. The laws, regulations, rules or normative documents related to the above projects are not applicable.
3. No registration documents will be returned. All registration documents and design result documents for the competition shall be written in Chinese.
4. The agencies only own the authorship of the design result documents, and other intellectual property rights are owned by the sponsor of this design competition.
5. Overseas agencies must be authorized by the headquarters before participating in this competition.
6. To ensure the project designers’ accurate understanding of the regional background and relevant requirements in China, overseas design agencies shall be equipped with at least one person who is proficient in Chinese.
7. Registration of a group is accepted in this competition. There shall be no more than three agencies in a group, and the group shall submit the Group Participation Agreement as required (which shall be stamped with the official seal of the corresponding agency by each member. If an overseas participating agency has no official seal, the agreement can be signed by its legal representative or legally authorized representative.)
8. In case of any inconsistency between Chinese and English expressions in this announcement and its annexes, the Chinese expression shall prevail. The documents submitted by an overseas agency shall include Chinese (simplified) translations, but if the Chinese contents are inconsistent with the non-Chinese contents in the documents submitted, the simplified Chinese contents shall prevail.

 

The announcement is published on AIMIR’s website now. If you want to know more following details regarding to this competition, please feel free to contact AIMIR. What’s more, you’re more than welcome to touch base with us if you need architectural visualization.