Politecnico's project for Tianjin 3615 Emergency and Rescue Innovation Park

The Italian Embassy in Beijing has recently hosted an online meeting to present the masterplan for the Tianjin 3615 Emergency and Rescue Innovation Park project, designed by the Politecnico - Department of Architecture and Design (DAD), in collaboration with the Shanghai Q&A studio that supported the project from China.

In the past three years, the cost of civil protection has become the third expenditure item for the Chinese government. Hence, the plan is to set up China centres devoted to innovation processes and technologies in this field by increasing people’s awareness of emergency issues. The recovery of the 3615 former factory, made up of 42 neglected industrial buildings located on the edge of the Panshan National Natural Site, is one of the first projects in this program. It aims to integrate industrial and commercial activities, research, education and entertainment.

The Tianjin project relates to the applied researches led in recent years by the Politecnico research group China Room, focused on industrial regeneration in the Chinese context. The masterplan gathers the existing buildings into six clusters, which define six urban courtyards to organise activities. The thriving vegetation of the surrounding area spreads between the clusters, creating green connecting paths and public spaces for researchers and visitors.

During the meeting, DAD/China Room professors and researchers, along with Q&A studio, presented their project proposal. They discussed the following steps with the Chinese client company (DITINTAN Group), the management from Topplayer company, representatives from Italian Embassy and ICE (Italian Trade Agency), the Harbin Institute of Technology (HIT), which will supervise the detailed design of the complex, and the Tianjin University. There are two more prospected strands for further collaboration: the first is related to architectural design development, encouraged by the long-lasting partnership with HIT. The second refers to the cooperation with the Italian Embassy and ICE for establishing Italian activities in Park 3615, eased since the management is the same that in 2017 involved Politecnico di Torino for the project of the Pearl River Piano Cultural Park in Canton.