Ramboll sponsored CTBUH International Student Research Competition winner builds new community facility in Vietnam

The Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH) International Student Research Competition has been won by a team from Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT), led by Professor Frank Flury, with their paper “Library & Community Center”, which documented the group’s trip to Vietnam to build an addition to a library in the rural area of Gia Bac for not-for-profit partner Eco Vietnam Group (EVG).

Dr Hossein Rezai, Global Design Director, Ramboll, congratulated the winning IIT team.

“The competition garnered 11 exceptionally high-quality submissions, and Ramboll was pleased to contribute to this significant research endeavour. Beyond providing a venue for the competition, we also brought together a panel of critics that underscored Ramboll’s commitment to cultivating an environment that nurtures talent and embraces creativity,” he said.

The research documents IIT Design/Build Studio’s trip to Vietnam to build an addition to a library in the rural area of Gia Bac for a not-for-profit partner Eco Vietnam Group (EVG), where they developed the facility over the course of a semester through meetings with EVG to ensure the new building would support existing social infrastructure. The winning report discusses the vernacular precedents and contemporary analysis that underlay the development of the design solutions in the studio, and the practical results of on-site construction.

The existing community library in Gia Bac was used as a classroom for supplementing the local education system. The community had outgrown the space, so the initial aim was to design a second classroom space for the campus. Through the IIT students’ discussions with the clients, the building’s program became more flexible as they brainstormed new ways to support the community. The result was an adaptable space, constructed with local materials, that could serve a multitude of purposes.

“What is so impressive about this research is that the students were successful in utilising techniques from the typical Vietnamese rural typology in the construction of the library. The building can serve as a prototype and provide a template for future development on this remote site in Gia Bac and in similar conditions across the Asia Pacific,” Jessie Tan, Country Market Director, Buildings APAC said.

“It adapts to the existing infrastructure challenges of Gia Bac, and this flexibility is key to addressing the long-term needs of the community.”

The CTBUH International Student Research Competition was run as part of the organisation’s 2022 conference in Chicago. The goal is to assist talented students, working in groups under the guidance of a professor, to focus on a relevant research question, and create an engaging output as a response.

"By supporting and being part of such ideas, we hope to inspire and catalyse positive change in the way we design and build our urban spaces."

The paper “Library & Community Center” has been published in the CTBUH Journal 2023 Issue IV and is available on the past competition winners and projects page and in CTBUH’s research paper library.