BDP unveils cell-shaped pharma campus in Shanghai

BDP has unveiled a 186,000-square-metre research campus in Shanghai, China, built as the research and development headquarters for Chia Tai Tianqing Pharmaceutical Group (CTTQ).

Details of the scheme were published on 25 September. The campus sits in the Hongqiao International Central Business District in west Shanghai, according to Dezeen.

The plan is organised around four buildings arranged as two linked pairs. Each pair takes its cue from the structure of cells, the basic units of living tissue. The forms are designed to read as cells splitting apart.

Glass-covered bridges join the buildings within each pair. A separate raised sky bridge, an elevated walkway fixed high above ground, then links all four blocks across the site. The arrangement keeps laboratory and office teams connected without forcing everyone down to ground level.

The four blocks frame a central park. That green space is open to the public. Anyone can walk in, not only company staff.

BDP, the architecture studio behind the scheme, said the development brings together two primary research centres with an administrative headquarters and conference facilities. The studio described the base as supporting research, incubation and commercial activity, according to BDP.

An earlier district government notice from February 2023 had described the Chia Tai Tianqing global research project in Hongqiao in smaller terms, at about 38,800 square metres, with an office building and dormitories. That notice dates from the planning stage, before the completed campus figures were published, according to the Hongqiao district government.

What makes this stand out is how literal the science reference is. You do not need a biology degree to get it. Two buildings lean together, then pull apart.

For neighbours, this means a working drug-research site with a public park at its centre. For staff, it means labs, offices and meeting rooms linked by bridges above the trees.