A carbon-neutral-ready university campus opens in Hong Kong

In early September, the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) officially opened its new, KPF-designed campus in Nansha, Guangzhou (GZ). The carbon-neutral-ready campus was planned, designed, and built in three years’ time, with a project team comprising over 70 architects and planners across KPF offices in New York, Shanghai, Hong Kong, and Singapore.

The project’s first phase includes nearly 6 million square feet (about 550,000 square meters) for over 4,000 graduate students and 400 faculty members. It provides research facilities for subjects such as robotics and autonomous systems, smart manufacturing and transportation, microelectronics, and atmosphere and ocean systems.

Rather than following a traditional academic structure based on schools and disciplines, HKUST(GZ) centers around a project-based learning model that encourages multi-disciplinary interactions. The campus features eight research and lab buildings, connected by shaded arcades, and a full range of teaching spaces, including seminar classrooms, labs, large lecture halls, maker spaces, and collaborative workspaces. 

“Landscape and building spaces come together to create an atmosphere where scientists will be energized and inspired to innovate,” James von Klemperer, KPF president, said in a statement.

From day one, HKUST(GZ) achieves a 54 percent reduction of carbon emissions, with a goal of reaching carbon neutrality before 2060. The plan’s environmental and resiliency measures have been designed for Guangzhou’s hot, humid climate and the rapidly urbanizing area’s flooding, seismic, and climate change risks.

When complete, the campus will accommodate more than 10,000 students and faculty. And it will integrate teaching and learning facilities with housing, neighborhood and campus retail, student life programs, administration, hotel, office and incubator spaces, and athletics facilities. 

The HKUST(GZ) campus adds to KPF’s portfolio of research, innovation, and academic facilities around the world, including the CUNY Advanced Science Research Centers in New York City, the University of Michigan’s Detroit Center for Innovation, and NYU’s new Qiantan campus in Shanghai.

On the Building Team:
Owner: Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
Design architect: Kohn Pedersen Fox (KPF) 
Architect of record: SCAD (Architectural Design & Research Institute of South China University of Technology Co.)
MEP engineer: ARUP
Structural engineer: ARUP
Landscape design: James Corner Field Operations
General contractor/construction manager: central hub: China Railway First Group Co. and China Railway Guangzhou Engineering Group Co.; other areas:
Canton One Construction Group Co. and Guangzhou Construction Engineering Co.