The gradually changing membrane material creates a “breathing” station, and Guangzhou Baiyun Station has been awarded the Prix Versailles.

Recently, the results of the 2025 Prix Versailles were announced, with Guangzhou Baiyun Station—the largest TOD in Asia, also known as the “Kapok”—successfully selected as one of the “Seven Most Beautiful Stations in the World.” This international award, supported by UNESCO, is regarded as the Oscar of the global architecture world.

The station used the red series of colored PTFE membrane materials from Huifeng Holdings Group. The “gradient” feature of these materials, which enables them to display the kapok flower’s colors from bud to full bloom through time and sunlight changes, served as one of the key factors for this award.

Advanced Membrane Solutions: Technology Driven Architectural Excellence

The Guangzhou Baiyun Station uses a low-shrinkage membrane structure, which includes an outer membrane and a bottom membrane. This membrane material uses highly flame-retardant and low-shrinkage PTFE material. Unlike traditional building materials, this innovative membrane material possesses excellent creep resistance, resulting in extremely low shrinkage and outstanding dimensional stability even when temperature and humidity change. This allows buildings to maintain a balance between aesthetics and functionality over the long term.

Huifeng’s membrane material played a key role in this design. With its high resistance to both infrared and UV rays, it not only reduces the building’s energy consumption but also creates a more comfortable environment for passengers. Additionally, thanks to its excellent flame-retardant properties, the material effectively prevents the spread of fire, making the station safer.

A Model of Sustainable Design

The core principle of the Versailles Prize is “to make culture a central issue in sustainable development.” The perfect combination of Guangzhou Baiyun Station and Huifeng membrane materials vividly embodies this concept. The gradient-textured membrane material, with its long service life and stable performance, reduces the frequency of building material replacement, thus practicing the concept of sustainable development from a resource utilization perspective.

The application of this innovative material breaks the limitations of the fixed properties of traditional building materials and points the way for the future development of architectural design and materials science.

Conclusion

The award for Guangzhou Baiyun Station represents not only a success in architectural design but also a success for material innovation. Huifeng Holdings Group’s gradient membrane material is gradually changing our understanding of building facades, upgrading them from static protection to dynamic, interactive adjustment. This innovative material is finding wider applications and will bring more surprises to urban construction and living spaces.

Fun fact:

The Prix Versailles is a global architecture and design award, created in 2015 and endorsed by UNESCO. This global award recognizes outstanding architectural and design projects worldwide in categories such as shops, hotels, and restaurants. It is not an award that organizations apply for themselves, but rather an honor bestowed upon selected projects through an annual jury process.

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