HUST Incubator.

Wuhan, China

What should happen between two workspaces?

The HUST Incubator is organised around two complementary conditions: a domain for concentrated work and shared space for exchange. Offices anchor the ends of the building. Between them, meeting areas and ramps form a connected interior where movement can also become an occasion to pause.

Exterior rendering of a campus incubator with faceted upper volumes and an open lower level — A shared middle / Connecting the working domains
The building gathers focused work and collective activities within one connected form.

01 / Two conditions

Give focus an edge and exchange a centre.

The plan places dedicated workspaces at the ends of the building and shared activities between them. This arrangement allows concentrated work to remain distinct while keeping meeting places nearby. The central area is conceived for workshops, informal discussions, and collective work.

Plan of the incubator showing rooms and circulation within a tapered site — 01 / The organisation in plan
The plan brings separate working areas into a common circulation system.

02 / The connecting route

Give movement somewhere to stop.

Linear ramps connect the different zones and establish views across levels. The proposal treats those routes as part of the shared interior: places from which to see activity elsewhere, meet another person, or break from focused work. The sections reveal how this spatial network passes between the larger building volumes.

Longitudinal section showing ramps and shared spaces across several levels — 02 / A route through the interior
The long section traces the changes of level and the spaces alongside them.

Section through two work volumes joined by a lower central connection — 03 / Distinct rooms, connected levels
The complementary section shows the relationship between enclosed working areas and the shared middle.

03 / A common form

Hold the differences together.

The faceted exterior gives the incubator a coherent form while the openings and lower spaces reveal the organisation within. The study brings the corridor, the meeting area, and the workplace into a single architectural question: how much of a working day might be shared?

Elevation of the incubator with a faceted upper volume above an open ground-level edge — 04 / The exterior edge
The elevation relates the enclosed upper mass to the spaces beneath it.

Concentrate / Move / Meet

The space between work is part of work.

The incubator places shared activity along the routes between focused spaces, exploring an alternative to the office corridor as a purely functional connection.

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Location: Wuhan, China
Studio: HUST Studio project
Instructor: Lei Peng
Collaboration: Individual work

Next projectDF 2023: AIGC-driven design and manufacturing(PIX Moving).