Considering that approximately nothing about a soda ash and ammonium chloride production company floating in the middle of a man-made lake in an industrial park sounds at all appealing, it's pretty much a miracle that Portuguese architect Álvaro Siza managed to turn the Shihlien Chemical Industrial Jiangsu Co.'s HQ into an island campus idyllic enough to make even the coolest offices out there crane their high-design heads. Made from white concrete and topped with a lush, undulating green roof, The Building on the Water in Jiangsu, China, houses two stories within its curving, ribbon-like walls. Built in a gentle U-shape, most of the interior rooms look out onto a watery inner courtyard, meant to highlight "a constant interplay with the environment."
"whether it is the changing hues and reflections of the water, or varying tones of light and shadow, the building manifests a multitude of changing complexions," says the design team. "The elegant building conveys a quiet beauty achieved when the concrete and substantial comes in contact with the fluid and ethereal."
· Alvaro Siza's first major project in China floats in an industrial park [Dezeen]
· All Office Spaces posts [Curbed National]