Waterpark Campus
The USTH was established in 2009 through an intergovernmental agreement between Vietnam and France, it aims to become one of the leading training and research center. This project is entirely funded by the Asian Development Bank (ADB).The USTH Campus, located in a natural environment, inside the Hoa Lac High Tech Park, 30km east from Hanoi city, is meant to be a “New Model University” Campus. The project will offer to researchers and students a living area structured by landscape. The lakes will be kept and sublimed to become the focus point of the project. Around and across these water plants, a front belt of all the main buildings, interconnected, creates an architectural frame to this landscape. The learning center, slightly elevated, draws the horizon line above the USTH entrance axis. The presence of water, along with the tropical architecture of the buildings and their specific technologies, will embody the unique character of the USTH being a Vietnamese University leading in sustainability and renewable energy.
The USTH Campus is organized around a clear central open space, the “Water Park”, which brings together all campus activities around a core dedicated to meetings and gatherings, but also to contemplation and thinking, in a preserved natural environment. The “Waterpark” offers a variety of spaces, each of a distinctive character: plaza, lakes and ponds, landscaped banks, “Isle of contemplation”, gardens, strolling paths, event places, all intended to contribute to the stimulation of students and researchers as integral part of the campus life.Organized around the core, four districts are clearly identifiable: administration area, shared facilities, the 6 faculties, and dormitories.
At the fringe and surrounding the “Water Park”, each of these functions is connected by a peristyle dedicated to pedestrian traffic protected against rain and sun. This continuous pathway comes in different forms: aerial walkway, passageway, space under stilts, bridges over the lakes, gallery. It widens in some places to integrate ‘showroom’, kiosks, meeting places, and to serve as entrance halls for each of the buildings. It is always open to the “Water Park”, offering users a clear orientation and identification across the campus.
The entire campus is aligned with the four cardinal directions. This implantation allows to easily respond to climatic conditions with appropriate measures (solar protection of buildings, natural wind acceleration between buildings) and also provides the possibility to arrange for campus extensions in a geometric and functional continuity, beyond Phase 2 in the western part of the site.
Presence of water is a major feature of the project. The existing natural water expanses will be preserved in most parts, and become integral part of the image of the campus of Hanoi. In the eastern part of the site, the water (lake d) will be partly covered by the buildings of The “Shared Facilities”. These buildings will be constructed on piles anchored in the beneath stable rock. This way the existing waters will transform into an underground water storage, however, they remain connected to the entire lake and pond system so as to not alter the general water level. The presence of these underground water expanses, at almost even chill temperature, will contribute to a system of natural cooling and ventilation for the Shared Facilities buildings.
