We are delighted to share the making of MVRDV’s Shenzhen Women & Children’s Center project. This is a renovation project of an existing building in Shenzhen, China. MVRDV turned it into a space with a wide range of facilities for the welfare of women and children.
The previous Women & Children’s Center started construction in 1994 and finished in 2003. It went through a long time period, but the building was not functioning well during the past days. This time, MVRDV’s amazing design repurposed it and finally will serve the community in its new form.
As AIMIR’s precious partner, Lorenzo from MVRDV, brought us this exciting project in late 2021. Because of the tight deadline, both of us decided to focus on an aerial view first. Let’s start the journey of making the Shenzhen Women & Children’s Center!
The Purpose of the Project
Lorenzo needed a 3D rendering to demonstrate the future look of the building to their client: Shum Yip Group Limited. At first, the client only intended to rebuild the façade. However, they appointed MVRDV to repurpose the building’s inside and out.
Shenzhen Women & Children’s Center is located in the center of Futian District in Shenzhen. The old site was built twenty years ago, and it never functioned effectivelyas it should be. As a result, MVRDV’s “adaptive reuse” redesign gives this building a new life in the new age.
Site location & previous building to be renovated.
As mentioned before, we focused on one aerial view this time. In the view, Lorenzo would like to showcase:
- plinth rooftop;
- public plaza;
- multi-colored exterior frames;
This is a project with so many details. We hoped our 3D rendering would give life to this structure, as if it was built already. So, let’s get started with the camera angle.
The View
To bring out the best accuracy of the surrounding environment, Lorenzo decided to use photo-composition for this project. He sent out a drone to take some high-res site photos, and this is the one he decided to use at last:
When dealing with surrounding context, photo-composition is the best way to show accuracy. If you’re not 100% after accuracy, you may consider model-building, white blocks, or even library matching. AIMIR has a blog about Four Typical Methods of Dealing with Surrounding Context.
So, the next step is to get the model ready.
The Model
Thanks to MVRDV’s hard work, we’ve received a complete model, with parts of textures and colors included. In this stage, we fined-tuned the 3D model and adjusted its angle to fit in the selected site photo perfectly.
The fine-tuned model with right angle.
Lorenzo shared his vision about adding trees on the public plaza and the plinth rooftop. And we decided to add details of textures, colors and trees at the same time in next stage.
Materials, Textures and Landscaping
Once the model was in place, it was time to deal with materials, textures, and landscaping.
Thanks to Lorenzo, we’ve received many materials to help us understand this project. The floor plans explained the structure, which has an education courtyard, a children discovery hall, food and beverage area, shopping spaces, an auditorium, office spaces and a hotel on the top.
Floor plan for the plinth.
In terms of “adaptive use” in this structure, MVRDV redesigned the playground, and utilized rubber layers made by recycled tires. Recycled materials are not only used in rubber layers, but also in artificial lawns and site-casted resin finishing.
One of the features of the design is the multi-colored exterior frames. All façade cladding, window frames and balconies are in metal. And these frames increase the façade’s depth, creating extra shading to improve the comfort level inside. Besides, compared with the tower, the whole plinth is more colorful aiming to delight its visitors especially children.
Our 3D specialists summarized all of these information, and proceeded with texturing the structure with appropriate materials.
Logos
This is a highlighted part because of its unique design. MVRDV used stainless steel to form 3D logos of both “discovery hall (儿童探索馆)” and “Women & Children’s Center (妇儿大厦)” with the custom-designed Chinese characters. At the same time, the colors aligned with the exterior frames, creating consistency while communicating the building to the public.
Design of logos.
Post-production
To bring the wow-effect with its viewers, our 3D artists put effort on the activities on both plinth rooftop and the public plaza. Thus, we’ve added various scenes with people interacting with each other and with the surroundings, such as wedding, kids playing, enjoying beverage, and roller skating.
Please enjoy the final image!
Construction has already begun, and AIMIR is so proud to be part of the project. We hope to stand on the rooftop to have a 360-degree panorama view of Shenzhen someday. We believe this structure will become one of the iconic buildings of Shenzhen.
Interested in this project? You’re welcome to share your opinion with us at [email protected]. If you need architectural 3D renderings or animations for your project, contact AIMIR for professional 3D rendering services. We’ll study your project and get the best out of it. Accordingly, you’ll get perfect 3D render visuals which showcases your vision. With the help of our work, your project will get approved, or even better, sell more with the potential buyers!