The World and Localization of Gable Architecture's "Urban Renewal"

Gerber Architekten is one of the leading architectural design firms in Germany. Founded in 1966 by German architect Dr. Eckhard Gerber, it has a history of more than 50 years. Gable Architecture is headquartered in Germany. In addition to four offices in Germany (Dortmund, Berlin, Hamburg, and Minster), Gable also has two overseas branches located in Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia, and Shanghai, China (Dechengyu Architectural Design Consulting (Shanghai) Co., Ltd.). At present, Gable Architecture has more than 300 employees worldwide.

Gable Architecture undertakes the whole process of project design, and is especially good at controlling the overall design and project. Its works are famous for innovation, efficiency and intelligence. As a result, Gable Architecture has accumulated a remarkable reputation in the world.

The former King of Saudi Arabia met with former German Chancellor Merkel and Professor Gabor (first from left: former German Chancellor Merkel second from left: former King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia second from right: Professor Ekhard Gabor)

Mr. Shi Mingde, former Chinese ambassador to Germany, congratulated Professor Gabor on his 80th birthday (left: Mr. Shi Mingde, former Chinese ambassador to Germany)

Gable Architecture has always been committed to promoting sustainable architecture. It is one of the founding members of the German Commission for Sustainable Building (DGNB) and a member of the European Association of Sustainable Laboratories. Over the past two centuries, as a witness of the times, Gable Architecture has deeply participated in the urban renewal process of Ruhr Industrial Park in Germany for 30 years, constantly promoting the development and transformation of the city, and jointly creating this classic of urban transformation.

Under the heavy historical accumulation, this old German architecture firm still maintains abundant vitality and pioneering spirit. In the past 15 years, Gable Architecture has practiced the concept of sustainable development and people-oriented urban planning in the Middle East and Asia, and created more meaningful urban renewal cases.

In 2002, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia invited public bidding for the national project design competition of "KING FAHAD NATIONAL LIBRARY" all over the world, with the participation of world-renowned firms. Gable Architecture submitted a design plan that violated the requirements of the assignment, but won the first prize at one fell swoop.

During the international bidding for this project, the Saudi royal family proposed to build a new library in the open space next to the original library. Gable broke the convention, boldly made suggestions on the modification of the requirements of the assignment book, proposed the expansion plan outside the original library, and returned the reserved construction land to the city and the citizens in the form of an oasis square. This subversive design concept made Party A refreshing and greatly admired, and received a warm response in Saudi Arabia, which is short of water and green.

Design sketch of King Fahd Library

From the people-oriented perspective, the design ingenuity of Gable Architecture in this project goes beyond this:

Gabor Architecture regards the old library as a "treasure" carrying the Saudi culture, while the new library is a "treasure box" that wraps the old library and treasures inside the box. The old hall is used for collecting books, and the new hall is used for reading. The space connecting the old hall and the new hall is a free place for people to exchange activities, and the new and old buildings also complete a dialogue across time and space at the intersection.

The appearance of the library is surrounded by a semi transparent membrane structure in the form of a tent, showing the facade texture with rich regional cultural characteristics. This carefully designed membrane structure can block the sun radiation while ensuring the vision, and at the same time meet the need for soft and sufficient lighting indoors, providing more comfortable reading space for visitors to the library in an all-round way.

King Fahd's National Library Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

The "wayward" design, which seems to be divorced from Party A's needs, contains Gable Architecture's profound understanding of regional characteristics and admiration for sustainable buildings. From design to completion, the project has won more than ten international awards including WAF, IAA, A+, WAN, MEED, MIPIM, etc. After the completion of the King Fahd National Library project, the Saudi royal family highly recognized Gabor Architecture and reached a long-term tacit understanding of cooperation.

With the concept of "people-oriented, adapting to local conditions" and the technical force of "innovation and efficiency", Gable Architecture, which has gone through deep cultivation in Germany and the Middle East, has also bred works with a high degree of understanding with local culture in China. A series of urban renewal projects located in Jinan are typical of a long history.

Jinan is a northern provincial capital city with mountains, springs, rivers, lakes and other landforms. Most of the traditional buildings only meet their own image shaping and functional needs, and rarely take into account the relationship with urban space and the feeling of street flow. Gable proposed the idea of co growth of architecture and city, and strengthened the integration of architecture and city.

Jinshi Center of Jinan CBD, located in the southeast area of Jinan CBD, covers an area of about 1.5 square meters. Gable building did not adopt the traditional form of "sitting to the bottom" in the design, but adopted the overall first floor overhead, so that the base and tower were suspended as a whole. This design method makes the space that belongs to the building echo with the space of the city, so that people who enter the building can also have a close sense of the city, eliminating the sense of isolation between the building and the city.

"Lingyan hides jade" - Jinshi Center of Jinan CBD

The International Finance City, also located in the central business district of Jinan, also has in-depth humanistic thinking in its design. Because the International Finance City is adjacent to the main urban road and has a good urban display interface, Gable buildings are not simply planned in the way of multiple super-high office buildings arranged independently, but are connected to the north and south of the plot by building groups with scattered heights. In the design, multiple green spaces are connected in series to connect seamlessly with the city. The overall layout of the building complex also refers to the petal shape of Jinan's city flower - lotus, which is used to reflect the city image combining humanity and nature. From modeling to conception, it shows Gable's high-quality expression of the rational art of architecture.

"Minghu Heliu" - South District of Jinan Central Business International Finance City

In Professor Gable's view, promoting people-oriented and sustainable design is the eternal theme of future urban construction worldwide.

China is also facing such a trend. With the rapid development of society, the expectation for the uniqueness, functionality, layout and use value of the city is getting higher and higher, and the "old city" is also increasingly difficult to bear the weight of high-speed development. Facing the proposition of urban sustainable development, urban renewal has become an inevitable direction.

Gable Architecture believes that the key to stimulating the "vitality" of a city is to master the concept of urban renewal and design according to local conditions. However, only by deeply understanding the balance between the historical culture and modern needs of each city can we truly realize the regeneration and revival of a city.

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