Fulbright University Vietnam (FUV) and the US-based Trust for University Innovation in Vietnam (TUIV) have selected SHoP Architects as master planners and designers.
Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, April 17, 2017–Fulbright University Vietnam (FUV) and the US-based Trust for University Innovation in Vietnam (TUIV) have selected SHoP Architects as master planners and designers.
Carrying forward the legacy of its namesake, Senator J. William Fulbright, a champion of international educational exchange, FUV is Vietnam’s first independent, non-profit institution of higher education.
FUV aspires to serve Vietnamese society through innovative teaching programs and impactful research aimed at supporting Vietnam’s continued development and addressing the grand challenges facing Vietnam and the world. The university was officially announced in 2016 by President Obama during his visit to Vietnam.
“We are eager to work with SHoP in building a campus that creates spaces to foster new ways of learning,” says Dam Bich Thuy, FUV’s founding president. “The firm is highly recognized for its achievements in technological innovation and sustainability, which will also be core values of Fulbright University Vietnam.”
Earlier this year, SHoP won an international competition ahead of more than a dozen other accomplished global firms. With projects built or underway on five continents, SHoP has become well-known around the world for its novel, creative, and effective approach to architecture and planning.
Another hallmark of SHoP’s method is a preference for very close collaborations with clients and stakeholders, often beginning before an institutional program is established.
“Working with the FUV team from the ground up to develop the university’s programs and spaces is an incredible honor and just the sort of challenge we thrive on,” SHoP Principal Gregg Pasquarelli said.
“The best buildings and public spaces often come from a process where architects are given the chance to push the envelope beyond traditional design services.”
The architects travelled to Vietnam last month for the project kick-off and visits to the university’s two Ho Chi Minh City sites: 25 hectares (62 acres) at the Saigon High Tech Park in District 9, where FUV will build its flagship campus, and an additional one hectare (2.5 acres) site in District 7 close to the city center, where the program will focus on professional education and building connections with the public.
Work on the project is currently underway and FUV anticipates opening the first of its new facilities to students in 2018.
FULBRIGHT UNIVERSITY VIETNAM
Fulbright University Vietnam (FUV) is a private, nonprofit Vietnamese university inspired by the American liberal arts education tradition and dedicated to serving Vietnamese society through innovation in teaching and learning.
FUV emerged from the Fulbright Economics Teaching Program, a twenty-year old initiative launched by the Harvard Kennedy School to create Vietnam’s first center of public policy teaching and research.
FUV’s first two academic programs are a graduate program in public policy and management (scheduled to launch in 2017) and an undergraduate program in engineering and the liberal arts and sciences (scheduled to launch in 2018).
FUV was officially announced by President Barack Obama in May 2016 during his state visit to Vietnam. FUV receives core financial support from the United States Department of State and a number of private supporters. FUV’s founding sponsor is the Trust for University Innovation in Vietnam, a U.S. nonprofit organization.
SHoP ARCHITECTS
SHoP Architects was founded to harness the power of diverse expertise in the design of environments that improve the quality of public life. SHoP’s work includes the Barclays Center arena in Brooklyn, a new academic building for the Fashion Institute of Technology in Manhattan, the Botswana Innovation Hub in Gaborone, and the National Veterans Resource Complex at Syracuse University.
