“Aspires to achieve harmony with all elements of the surrounding ecosystem” – Holcim Awards Jury
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Members of the winning team for the "Low-impact greenfield university campus, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam" project (l-r): Kazuhiro Kojima, architect, Coelacanth and Associates Co., Ltd., Tokyo, Japan; Daisuke Sanuki, architect, Daisuke Sanuki Architectural Design Office, Tokyo, Japan; Vo Trong Nghia, architect, Vo Trong Nghia Co. Ltd, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.
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Hand-over presentation to the winners of the global Holcim Awards Silver prize "Low-impact greenfield university campus, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam": (l-r): Paul Hugentobler, Member of the Executive Committee of Holcim, Switzerland; Masaaki Gokura, Representative of the Consul General of Japan in Ho Chi Minh City; Kazuko Akamatsu and Kazuhiro Kojima, architects, Coelacanth and Associates Co., Ltd., Tokyo, Japan; Daisuke Sanuki, architect, Daisuke Sanuki Architectural Design Office, Tokyo, Japan; Vo Trong Nghia, architect, Vo Trong Nghia Co. Ltd, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam; Markus Akermann, Chairman of the Management Board of the Holcim Foundation, CEO of Holcim Ltd, Switzerland; Ashok B Lall, Principal and founder of Ashok B Lall Architects of New Delhi and representative of the Holcim Awards juries; Gérard Letellier, Area Manager of Holcim, Switzerland; and Aidan Lynam, CEO of Holcim Vietnam, Vietnam.
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Hand-over presentation to the winners of the global Holcim Awards Silver prize "Low-impact greenfield university campus, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam": Markus Akermann, Chairman of the Management Board of the Holcim Foundation and CEO of Holcim Ltd, Switzerland and Masaaki Gokura, Representative of the Consul General of Japan in Ho Chi Minh City with members of the winning team: Kazuko Akamatsu and Kazuhiro Kojima, architects, Coelacanth and Associates Co., Ltd., Tokyo, Japan; Daisuke Sanuki, architect, Daisuke Sanuki Architectural Design Office, Tokyo, Japan.
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Hand-over presentation to the winners of the global Holcim Awards Silver prize (l-r): Masaaki Gokura, Representative of the Consul General of Japan in Ho Chi Minh City; members of the winning team: Kazuko Akamatsu and Kazuhiro Kojima, architects, Coelacanth and Associates Co., Ltd., Tokyo, Japan; Daisuke Sanuki, architect, Daisuke Sanuki Architectural Design Office, Tokyo, Japan; Vo Trong Nghia, architect, Vo Trong Nghia Co. Ltd, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam; and Holcim representatives: Gérard Letellier, Area Manager of Holcim, Switzerland; and Aidan Lynam, CEO of Holcim Vietnam, Vietnam.
A new campus for an architectural university in the middle of the Mekong River delta aspires to achieve harmony with all elements of the surrounding ecosystem: the waters of the river and the flooding of the rice fields, the mangroves, the winds and their patterns as well as with the seasonal changes of light and shadow. The project avoids massive reclamation of land. It so also emulates traditions of Southeast Asian agricultural civilization.
Last updated: May 08, 2009 Zurich, Switzerland
The gently bended, intertwined ovals, which characterize the layout of the buildings, and their intersections, create a diversity of large halls and small rooms – a fuzzy logic which allows scholars and students to communicate and interact in many ways, and the university to organically organize itself along changing ideas and needs to come.
Blending into the context of light, winds and water allows reducing the ecological footprint to a minimum. Day light and natural ventilation are used to maximum. Rain water is harvested. Local materials like bamboo and mangroves are used wherever possible.
The formal principle of gentle curves, shaded open halls, and a multitude of small spaces and communicating halls host and cover the members of the academic community in a protective way without locking them into too narrowly pre-defined conditions of hierarchy and rigid organization.