A French consortium led by AS Architecture Studio has won the international design competition, organised by Phase Eins, for the University of Science and Technology Hanoi (USTH). The jury, chaired by Australian architect Donald Bates, awarded the USD$45,000 first prize to the scheme from forty-seven entries and six finalists.
The university is to be located in Hoa Lac High Tech Park – Hanoi’s answer to Silicon Valley – situated in the western outskirts of Vietnam’s capital.
The design encompasses the entire university campus, a sixty-five hectare site comprising of four districts – administration, shared facilities, faculty buildings and on campus dormitories. The campus is organised orthogonally along the four axes of the compass grid overlaid over an existing system of ponds and lakes, which are integrated into the master plan of the campus. A central water park is the focal point, bringing all its activities together.
The Learning Centre, University of Science and Technology Hanoi.
Image: Courtesy Phase Eins
Shared facilities buildings at University of Science and Technology Hanoi.
Image: Courtesy Phase Eins
A landmark Learning Centre, which acts as a gateway to the campus, is situated at the south east corner. At the south-west part of the site are the dormitories. The family scale apartments are naturally isolated from the rest of the campus by the waterways, but are connected to the faculty buildings and learning centre via bridges. The shared facilities buildings occupy the eastern part of the site and will be built over the existing ponds. The buildings will be constructed on piles anchored in stable rock, turning the ponds below into underground water storage that will contribute to the natural cooling system and ventilation for the share facilities buildings. At the northern end of the site are six faculty buildings.
The USTH was established in 2009 through an intergovernmental agreement between Vietnam and France. A consortium of 40 universities were involved in setting up and developing the academic and research programs. The university is part of the New Model University intended to become a leading training and research centre for the region.
The design of the campus had to reflect the bi-national foundation of the university and incorporate cultural components of both countries.
The USD$210 million project is funded in part by the Vietnamese government and Asia Development Bank. The first phase of construction is expected to be implemented by 2017.
