ONUP Magazine | Sens Architects Gives an Old Factory a Sheltered Street Edge

Renovated factory facade beside street trees in Tongxiang

Sens Architects Gives an Old Factory a Sheltered Street Edge

Sens Architects brings a former fashion factory closer to the street in Tongxiang, Zhejiang. Completed in January 2026 for Jiaxing Moke Clothing, New Order in Old Factory reorganises the building’s frontage around the trees already growing beside it.

The intervention addresses a familiar problem in industrial districts: a building can stand immediately beside a pavement yet offer little sense of arrival. Here, the interesting architectural move is to give that narrow boundary depth. Approaching, entering and moving between doors become part of a continuous spatial experience.

A covered ground-floor veranda connects entrances that previously worked separately. The guard booth and main entrance form a shared forecourt, while patios and side windows bring greenery into view along the route. Shelter becomes a means of organising circulation.

Above, the windows respond to the work behind them. Third-floor offices and reception spaces receive broad clear glazing at tree-canopy level. Production and storage floors use frosted U-glass with opening sashes to balance filtered daylight and ventilation.

This difference gives the elevation a readable internal logic. Looking outward can be valuable in an office; elsewhere, an even quality of light matters more. Treating those conditions separately makes the facade more specific to its occupants.

Chiselled concrete, brick finishes, aluminium panels and luminous glass blocks bring contrasting textures to the thresholds. Their success lies in how they can be encountered at walking pace: as edges, sheltered walls and openings, rather than a single distant composition.

The project suggests a useful approach to everyday industrial renewal. Improving the relationship between a workplace and its immediate surroundings can begin with access, shelter and a careful choice of views.