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.
Related Stories
| Jul 23, 2014
Architecture Billings Index up nearly a point in June
AIA reported the June ABI score was 53.5, up from a mark of 52.6 in May.
| Jul 21, 2014
Economists ponder uneven recovery, weigh benefits of big infrastructure [2014 Giants 300 Report]
According to expert forecasters, multifamily projects, the Panama Canal expansion, and the petroleum industry’s “shale gale” could be saving graces for commercial AEC firms seeking growth opportunities in an economy that’s provided its share of recent disappointments.
| Jul 18, 2014
Contractors warm up to new technologies, invent new management schemes [2014 Giants 300 Report]
“UAV.” “LATISTA.” “CMST.” If BD+C Giants 300 contractors have anything to say about it, these new terms may someday be as well known as “BIM” or “LEED.” Here’s a sampling of what Giant GCs and CMs are doing by way of technological and managerial innovation.
| Jul 18, 2014
Top Construction Management Firms [2014 Giants 300 Report]
Jacobs, Barton Malow, Hill International top Building Design+Construction's 2014 ranking of the largest construction management and project management firms in the United States.
| Jul 18, 2014
Top Contractors [2014 Giants 300 Report]
Turner, Whiting-Turner, Skanska top Building Design+Construction's 2014 ranking of the largest contractors in the United States.
| Jul 18, 2014
Engineering firms look to bolster growth through new services, technology [2014 Giants 300 Report]
Following solid revenue growth in 2013, the majority of U.S.-based engineering and engineering/architecture firms expect more of the same this year, according to BD+C’s 2014 Giants 300 report.
| Jul 18, 2014
Top Engineering/Architecture Firms [2014 Giants 300 Report]
Jacobs, AECOM, Parsons Brinckerhoff top Building Design+Construction's 2014 ranking of the largest engineering/architecture firms in the United States.
| Jul 18, 2014
Top Engineering Firms [2014 Giants 300 Report]
Fluor, Arup, Day & Zimmermann top Building Design+Construction's 2014 ranking of the largest engineering firms in the United States.
| Jul 18, 2014
Top Architecture Firms [2014 Giants 300 Report]
Gensler, Perkins+Will, NBBJ top Building Design+Construction's 2014 ranking of the largest architecture firms in the United States.
| Jul 18, 2014
2014 Giants 300 Report
Building Design+Construction magazine's annual ranking the nation's largest architecture, engineering, and construction firms in the U.S.
