A centre of innovation for medical diagnosis

Hongqiao, the fast-growing business district of Shanghai, will be the home of the new United Imaging Group headquarters, the "Smart Medical Campus". The new-build project will further develop the links between industry, research and teaching in an ultra-modern array of buildings. Maximum energy efficiency is just as important as the fitting architecture, which is why the planners selected a building shell with high thermal insulation. The innovative high-tech park will make use of two all-steel profile systems from Forster Profile Systems: the forster thermfix vario HI facade system and the forster unico HI door system.

Futuristic, smart and efficient

With the Smart Medical Campus, United Imaging Group is emphasising geographical proximity and connectivity: As the manufacturer of state-of-the-art medical imaging and radiotherapy devices, the company will use its new headquarters to bring its offices together with various research and development units, training centres and treatment facilities. In addition to its synergistic use concept, this new-build project will become an internationally renowned flagship project for energy efficiency through sustainable architecture. The Architectural Design & Research Institute of TONGJI University and the facade experts at RFR Shanghai have worked with Forster engineers to develop a building shell that meets the relevant requirements in a variety of ways. The tailor-made facade system makes the building more energy-efficient, but another part of its appeal is the sophisticated construction, which respects the principles of statics with a light, organic feel and high transparency.

Sophisticated facade design

With its rhombus-shaped horizontal span and angles of up to 80 degrees, the facade design makes full use of the principles of statics. The new building complex has a facade surface area of around 35,000 square metres, for which the planning team selected the highly thermally insulating facade system forster thermfix vario HI: With a thickness of 4.5 millimetres, the mullion profiles have the rigidity required to meet the high glass and wind loads. The building is equipped with more than 100 unico Hi doors to meet the high requirements for energy efficiency and sustainability. Just like the facade system, the highly thermally insulating door profiles forego plastic insulators, instead being made entirely of recyclable steel. A variety of methods were used to precisely calculate the facade design, from FEM to 3D CAD and 3D printing. The result is an extremely lightweight design with no compromises in terms of functionality and robustness.

Project completion is scheduled for the end of 2024.

Shanghai, China

Products: Facade system forster thermfix vario HI, doors forster unico HI

Architecture: Architectural Design & Research Institute of TONGJI University (Group) Co., Ltd., Shanghai

Facade planning: RFR, Shanghai

Client: Shanghai United Imaging Healthcare Co., Ltd, Shanghai

Images: Architectural Design & Research Institute of TONGJI University (Group) Co., Ltd., Shanghai