Three years ago when Nestlé commissioned Inkmason to design their world’s first and only dairy farming training center, both the designer and the client understood that it would not be an easy journey, for the fact that it is set in the harsh climatic region of Harbin, where the local construction materials and workmanship are desperately scarce and the resource of running such project would be paramount. Despite all the difficulties, The Nestlé Diary Farming Institute in Shuangcheng Harbin China was finally completed and its official inauguration was held on the 15 Oct 2014.
The Nestlé Diary Farming Institute is located at the southwestern corner of the corporates newly erected 600,000 square meter diary training compound, consisted of 3 demonstration farms of different sizes. The building serves as a service center for the whole compound with offices, training rooms, visitor experience facilities, faculty offices, and accommodation and F&B service for students and faculties from local and international. The building has a total GFA of 6,085 square meter, arranged in 3 circular “O” shape floors.
Visitors to the NDFI will be greeted at the entrance gate of the whole compound and immediately lead into the building. On the ground floor, visitors can sign in at the circular reception counter which sculpted like a blob of milk. The corporate’s mission and partnership exhibition flank both sides of the reception counter. Extending from this hearth of the ground floor are the research labs, the 100 seats auditorium, library, dining area, and the VIP dining room, as well as a coffee shop showcasing the corporate’s well known coffee products.
The teaching facility extended into the second floor with 2 more 50 seats training room and 3 collaboration work rooms. Pockets of space are scattered along the corridor to create a collaborative atmosphere as well as break out and relax areas for students. The facility management office is located on this floor on the south western section and the academic offices are on the north eastern section. In between are the VIP accommodation on the west and the student’s on the east.
On the third floor, there is a large activity center for the students, with TV, game lounge, yoga room, treadmills, changing rooms and lockers. The activity room provides an ideal relax area for students from around the world, especially during the harsh winter months in Harbin. There are more accommodations on the third floor, which together with those on the second floor, making up the total number of 37 rooms, for 62 people year round with long term training program. Together with the day trip visitors and students, the total capacity of the building is more than 120 people daily.
There is an indoor viewing deck on top of the building looking out to the whole training compound. In every window of the whole building on each floor, people have perfect views either to the vast extended prairie landscape of Harbin, or into the circular open courtyard in the middle of the building. The circular courtyard provides maximum natural daylight penetration. During summer months, the courtyard provides a perfect outdoor gathering space for students and visitors. The dining area on the ground floor can also be extended into the courtyard for special events.
The idea of the circular building comes not only from the environmental and functional aspects which allow maximum solar exposure and optimum circulation distance, but also from the concept of a three dimensional ripples. Through this facility, the designer wishes that the best practice, the knowledge and experience of dairy farming can be spread and extended, like ripples, throughout the whole region. Starting from this building as the center of the ripple, the quality of life can be drastically improved for the dairy farmer and for the children of the future generations.
