Chu Hai Campus in New Territories, Hong Kong by OMA

Article source: OMA

Three imperatives drive the concept for Chu Hai College’s new campus: a compressed time frame of two years for completion, the natural beauty of the site – a verdant hill overlooking Castle Peak Bay in Hong Kong’s New Territories – and Chu Hai’s venerable history (starting in 1947) of multidisciplinary education.

Chu Hai mat (Image Courtesy OMA)

• Architects: OMA
• Project: New campus for Chu Hai College Hong Kong
• Location: Castle Peak Road, New Territories, Hong Kong
• Status: Schematic Design
• Client: Chu Hai College
• Site: 16,500m2
• Program: 28,000m2 of educational facilities including library, classrooms, offices, studios, cafeteria, lecture theatres, gym, staff accommodation

Chu Hai Campus model shot (Image Courtesy OMA)

• Partner in charge: Rem Koolhaas, David Gianotten
• Associate: Michael Kokora
• Team: Juan Minguez, Ted Lin, Patrizia Zobernig, Ken Fung, Catharine Ng, Mike Lam and Ka Tam
• Competition team: David Gianotten and Chris van Duijn, together with Sam Aitkenhead, Jing Chen, Vilhelm Christensen, Alessandro De Santis, Pscal Hendrickx, Matthew Jull, Michael Kokora, Jedidah Lau, Dirk Peters, Koen Stockbroekx, Leonie Wenz, Patrizia Zobernig

Model (Image Courtesy OMA)

• Project architect: Leigh & Orange
• Hard and soft landscape consultant: Team 73 HK
• Civil, geotechnical, structural and building services engineer: Mott MacDonald UK
• Structural facade consultant: Corus
• Quantity surveyor: WT Partnership HK

Model (Image Courtesy OMA)

The campus consists of education facilities for three faculties (with 10 departments) and two research centres over a gross floor area of 28,000m2. Seventy-five percent of this space is concentrated in two parallel horizontal slabs, which are each eight stories high. The slabs are conceived with speed and ease of construction in mind: all structural elements are on the exterior, liberating the floor plane for ultimate flexibility.

The slabs are connected by a ‘mat’ of stairs and platforms that criss-cross between the buildings, acting as a circulation space for the campus and following the natural slope of the site towards the sea. Campus life is concentrated on the mat, which facilitates encounters between staff and students from different departments and offers views of the sea, the surrounding hills, and also, thanks to the aerated facades of the slabs, into the inner life of the college itself.

Beneath the mat, the ‘plinth’ runs between the two slabs, beginning at ground level and rising to the fourth floor. It is a multi-level network of intricate spaces – in contrast to the simplicity of the slabs – including a cluster of four lecture theatres, a cafeteria, gym, and, at the core of the college, the library.

Tags: Hong Kong, New Territories

Categories: Campus, Educational Center

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