Aspen Cheung
Edinburgh School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture,University of Edinburgh
Aspen Cheung
Edinburgh School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture,University of Edinburgh
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Architectural Design: Explorations
Competition: Re-imagining Cities Towards Carbon Neutrality (UEH ISCM)
Tutors: Jack Green, Ana Miret Garcia
In collaboration with Leia Wilson and Sara Travar
Sep-Dec 2023
Shortlisted as top 15
Sited in Vung Tau, Vietnam, we were asked to formulate a masterplan for 10 hectares of the city that focuses on boosting tourism and raising the overall quality of life of the local residents, with carbon neutrality and sustainability in mind. With only three weeks and a site that none of us were familiar with, this was proven to be a great challenge. Many ideas emerged through brainstorming and tutorial sessions, but a phased modular approach was finally adopted for a straightforward scheme with a stronger reasoning.
One of the ideas that was not further developed due to the time constraint was a city-wide scheme responding to the tourist aspect of the brief, where a boat route with a metro-like nature where people can hop on and off and explore Vung Tau conveniently and highlighting significant landmarks and busier areas. A similar idea for e-bike travelling was also explored for people to do round-island bike rides with an expansive network of charging spots.
We proposed a simple strategy that can be repeated across the entire city upon pilot schemes in some of the areas. After zoning the city into smaller neighborhoods, ranging from purely municipal to purely residential neighborhoods, similar strategies can be employed to create a more sustainable way of living. Pilot neighborhoods can also be implemented so the city can renew in a phased construction, allowing improvements to be made along the way.
General strategies include:
- prohibiting car traffic within these neighborhoods apart from emergency access, thus creating 5-minute neighborhoods that prioritise pedestrians and electric bikes
- The electric bikes are shared across the city, with charging points and bike sheds in every neighborhood.
While basic amenities would be provided to each neighborhood, certain functions should be located in other neighborhoods to encourage residents to travel to other parts of the city and not be limited to their own neighborhood.
Overall Isometric
Phases of the scheme
Densify and diversify
Final Competition Spreads