Hong Kong, SAR
American Prize for Architecture laureates Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates and James Corner Field Operations have designed a master plan that offers a world-class, state of the art research campus within the Greater Hong Kong Bay Area region.
The new Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) will cover 1.13 square kilometers of land situated near the high-speed rail station in Qingsheng, offering 30-minute rides to and from Hong Kong.
This accessibility will nurture synergy between the two cities and campuses, where academic programs and research will be complementary rather than duplicated. KPF is Lead Design Consultant (LDC) for both the campus master plan and its individual buildings, collaborating with ASG, Jacobs, MVA, and James Corner Field Operations.
The master plan strives to create an iconic and memorable campus by combining the needs of HKUST with the natural beauty of the site and the future urban context of the surrounding neighborhoods. Its design will materialize in two phases to accommodate more than 10,000 students and faculty in time and the full range of university facilities: spaces for housing, teaching and research, athletics, performing arts, and their amenities. These specialized facilities converge around a dynamic, central space to foster interdisciplinary collaboration, enhance innovation, and achieve a strong community.
The new campus will provide an inspirational environment for students, faculty, and staff to live, work and study, establishing a world-leading standard in higher education for future generations and campuses across China.
James von Klemperer, KPF President and Design Principal, speaks to the project’s design objectives: “KPF is excited and honored to create a world-leading epicenter for science and technology education in Nansha, Guangzhou. The goal is to create a place that encourages innovation and collaboration within an environmentally sustainable framework. While drawing from the success of HKUST and other top universities, we want to design a campus that uniquely expresses its specific locale.”
HKUST (Guangzhou) features exemplary sustainability and resiliency measures, attuned to the site within the rapidly developing, coastal region of mainland China and an area of the world that will witness some of the greatest climate change impact. The master plan incorporates three canals that will embrace the delta and enforce its “zero water waste” goal, collecting and filtering rainwater for reuse and promoting resiliency through flooding and wetland protection. Within the canals’ borders, HKUST (Guangzhou) will be an emission-free campus, in which a smart electric mobility network will support all transportation of resources and people.
Proposed to surround the campus core, the extensive network of green spaces illustrates the design’s focus on future-proofing and ecological renewal, ultimately minimizing its campus footprint and purposefully reserving undeveloped areas for expansion.
Both the main outdoor collaboration areas and the buildings themselves will incorporate a combination of active and passive thermal comfort strategies to guarantee the well-being and enjoyment of occupants within the humid microclimate of the site. KPF’s Environmental The performance team analyzed options for building orientation to optimize shading and daylight access, allowing the major promenades to be naturally ventilated and cooled in the hot weather.
In all, HKUST (Guangzhou) is committed to achieving carbon neutrality by 2035, an effort that will combine high-performance building systems and renewable energy generation on-site.
This strategy also commits attention to the campus’s goal to be a “living lab”– a permanently unfinished campus that at once empowers its users to learn about their environmental impact and maintain social wellbeing through spaces that promote collaboration and experimentation.
Architects: Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates PC.
Landscape Architects: James Corner Field Operations
Collaborating Consultants: ASG, Jacobs, MVA
Clients: Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST)
