Creating “One” from “Zero”: An Advanced Design Process for Industrial Architecture
Advanced Manufacturing Centre (AMC), Hong Kong (Part 1)

Historically, the “vertically integrated” model was the mainstay of manufacturing businesses, wherein everything from research and development to production and sales was conducted within the confines of a single corporate entity. This large-scale approach dominated the industrial landscape. However, the 21st century ushered in a transformative shift, as internet connectivity began to interlink people, goods, and production sites like never before. This change paved the way from a closed system to a “network-based” manufacturing approach, where resources, information, and technology are no longer secluded but shared and connected with external entities. This shift supercharges productivity and fosters a hotbed for accelerated innovation. The embodiment of this revolutionary trend is Industry 4.0—a trailblazing policy introduced by the German government in 2011 that has since profoundly influenced the global industrial vision.

Anchoring Industry 4.0 is the concept of “Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS).” This system seeks to streamline operations by harvesting data from the real world, analyzing it within a virtual environment, and then feeding the insights back into the real world. Through the consolidation of development, production, and logistics data facilitated by CPS, we have seen the advent of adaptable production systems, which are capable of catering to a wide spectrum of user demands, optimizing inventory, and ensuring timely delivery of products. In other words, “mass customization (mass production of individual goods),” a feat that was previously unattainable during the 20th century when manufacturers were largely confined to mass production of homogeneous products with unilateral supply methods. In today’s scenario, the entire product lifecycle, from research and development to post-sales, is brought under the data utilization. This has extended the concept of manufacturing from simply being about production to encompassing a comprehensive range of lifecycle services, fundamentally changing the manufacturing paradigm.

How exactly are the requirements for industrial architecture transforming? Primarily, the transition towards a network-oriented business model has led to a surge in multi-tenant facilities where several manufacturers or suppliers coexist and jointly utilize facilities for development, production, and logistics. Given the challenges posed by different standards and specifications among companies when sharing resources and data, “standardization” and “modularization” are crucial to enhance the general applicability of facilities and interfaces. Moreover, as the concept of manufacturing broadens, there is a rising demand for integrated, multi-use facilities that break down the conventional barriers between development, production, and logistics functions.

During the era of mass production and consumption, building large-scale factories and research institutions in the suburbs was a common practice due to the emphasis on scale. However, as production equipment becomes more efficient and compact, and automation advances, the opportunity to downsize these spaces has emerged. This shift helps reduce energy consumption related to air conditioning and lighting, paving the way for more sustainable production activities. Further, there is an escalating demand for an exchange of sophisticated knowledge and talent facilitated by open innovation, alongside the emergence of micro-factories that carry out small-scale, dispersed production. Consequently, it is likely that manufacturing bases, including research and development, will return to urban areas which are more accessible and closer to consumption sites. Looking ahead, we anticipate a future where production and consumption coexist in cities worldwide. These urban spaces will potentially give rise to distinct industrial clusters, each reflecting and leveraging the unique characteristics of their respective regions.

Nikken Sekkei’s portfolio comprises a wide spectrum of architectural and urban planning projects in various sectors. Our strength lies in our ability to harness our broad-based knowledge to holistically propose the ideal architecture for innovation, including how to seamlessly fuse industrial architecture within urban landscapes. We envisage the evolution of manufacturing processes and needs surrounding industrial architecture as mentioned earlier and adopt a proactive design process that starts even before specific design parameters are provided by our clients. Right from the pre-design phase, our architects delve into potential challenges and begin proposing ideas using prototypes. Prior to initiating the actual design, we engage in iterative reviews of these prototypes over a short span. This enables us to deepen our understanding of the present scenario, unearth additional challenges, and visualize what an ideal future would look like. We then transform powerful, boundary-breaking concepts into reality. This is our “zero to one” design process, also referred to as design thinking or agile development in the manufacturing domain. We firmly believe in the need for innovation in the design process itself to pave the way for truly groundbreaking industrial architecture. In the subsequent section, we will showcase how the AMC embodies this philosophy through its initiatives.