As City University of Hong Kong’s third mainland site, CityU Dongguan will connect top researchers and industry collaborators across the Greater Bay Area Technology Innovation Corridor and create a multifaceted and vibrant university district in the Pearl River Delta region.
CityU will help unify the high-end research facilities of Hong Kong and the manufacturing power of Shenzhen to create a new science and development region in the country. The campus’s close proximity to the China Spallation Neutron Source (CSNS), one of the largest scientific research projects in China, and the Songshan Lake Materials Laboratory, will allow for close collaboration on topics ranging from neutron scattering to wearable technology.
Home to the Faculty of Science, Engineering, Business, and Medicine, the 300,000 m2 campus is organized along a diagonal grid and divided in half by a road running from the north to the south. Harnessing the momentum of this strong central axis, HENN’s design boomerangs across the site and bridges the road with an elevated platform known as the Academic Spine.
The Spine organizes the campus physically and conceptually: as the main circulation route through campus, the elevated platform navigates the site’s mountainous topography and creates connections between the University’s academic and research programs.
The Spine links the four faculties, sports facilities and administrative buildings on West Campus with the laboratories, classrooms, dining hall, and media center on East Campus. At the heart of the campus, the Spines widens into a large plaza containing the Central Library.
Residential towers define the edges of the campus, offering centrally-located accommodation for students and a direct connection to the surrounding landscape. The project will be constructed in two phases. Phase 01 will be completed in 2023 and Phase 02 is scheduled for completion in 2025.
The Central Library, a strikingly angular design with a 50 meter cantilever, will be part of the first construction phase and serve as a symbol of the University and a new landmark for the city of Dongguan. Construction of labs, classrooms and amenities will be evenly distributed across the two phases to allow for greater flexibility.
CityU is the latest project in HENN’s growing portfolio of universities and research facilities in China. Westlake University in Hangzhou and the IHM Innovation Center in Guangzhou both opened this year, and Aviation University is currently under construction in Hangzhou. Source by HENN.
- Location: Dongguan, China
- Architect: HENN
- Partner in Charge: Georg Pichler
- Project Team: Xuan Wu, Fan Feng, Yaxi Yang, Jiaying Fan, Yunan Duan, Wei Wei, Tongyu Wu, Tian Xie, Wanyi Zhang, Wei Guo, Yin Wang, Mostafa Seleem, Le Quang, Ayk Martirosyan, Sean Hadju, Karim Daw, Leander Adrian, Armin Nemati
- Client: City University of Hong Kong (Dongguan)
- Area GFA: 300,000 m2
- Completed: 2023
- Images: Courtesy of HENN