MSc Integrated Sustainable Design

Lecture | Masterclass in WOHA

On August 18th, ISD students came to WOHA Architects, and the co-founder of WOHA, Wong Mun Summ, gave a lecture to the students, the theme was Form Follows System.
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Form Follows System S to M
Mun Summ started from HOUSE ON MAPLE AVENUE more than 20 years ago, from traditional Singapore family houses to hotel projects in Southeast Asia to Dubai World Expo Singapore Pavilion to some projects currently under construction, from conceptual ideas to systematic thinking hands-on, showing students the design thinking and methodology of WOHA.
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Break
The ISD students celebrated the birthday of Mun Summ. As a birthday star, Mun Summ thoughtfully prepared a big gift for the students: WOHA's project book "Garden City Mega City", and signed his name and wishes on the book for each student.
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Form Follows System M to L
Mun Summ introduced the content of the book to the students, and selected several important projects to introduce in detail. Each project highlighted Green Plot Ratio, Community Plot Ratio, Civic Generosity Index, Ecosystem Contribution Index and Self-Sufficiency Index. It is convenient for students to understand "Systems Approach" faster.
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Through the lecture, ISD students have learned a lot and are looking forward to visit two projects designed by WOHA: Kampung Admiralty and SkyVille @ Dawson
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Video Link：
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ofbpJZCOUQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=znTWVBXVYBQ

Editor： WANG Yifei
Image： WANG Yifei HU Ziwei

ECOPUNCTURE 7: Landscape design can be an act of social and ecological regeneration; this is increasingly apparent in the conversation on Asian urbanism. Kongjian Yu, landscape designer and urbanist based in Beijing, sees this link and makes it explicit in parks he designs, projects like Shanghai Houtan Park. Here, he merges public space with ecological and hydrological systems that borrow from agricultural practices in rural China. For generations, these practices have balanced the needs of humans with other life, lessons that he says can be adapted to cities.

Shanghai Houtan Park was developed as part of the 2010 World Expo, which was built on post-industrial land along the banks of the Huangpu River. The site of the park was a former steel factory and shipyard that had been left in poor condition. The concrete flood wall that separated the factory from the river had destroyed riparian habitats, and cut off access to the water's edge. The river was heavily polluted with industrial and agricultural effluent, and unable to support aquatic life.

Yu's design created a blue-green system for the production of clean water and biodiversity habitats. The park is some 1.7 km long and 30–80 m wide. Its planning centres around a waterway-cum-wetland, made up of a linear arrangement of treatment ponds. The ponds within it treat around 2,500 m3 of water from the Huangpu River daily. There are six stages of purification. Water entering the site is typically rated Grade V, high on the pollution scale. It moves to terraced fields, which filter and trap pollutants. Plants absorb heavy metals and toxins first, then nitrogen and phosphorus. To increase oxygen content, the water is aerated as it cascades over terraces. By the time it reaches the final stage, it has achieved Grade II quality. Previously, about 40% of the cleaned water was required within the Expo site. Today, only 4% is taken up by plants, absorbed by the ground, or evaporated. The rest is returned to the river.

In total, within the park, there are 36 species of woody vegetation, 50 species of herb vegetation, and approximately seven species of crops. The plants and clean water have already attracted a diversity of fauna, including 70 species of aquatic invertebrates, 73 species of aquatic animals, 20 species of birds, 29 species of insects, two species of amphibians, eight species of reptiles, two species of mammals, and two species of arthropods. The concrete flood wall along the edge of the site has been replaced with a terraced riparian landscape which consists of water-tolerant and aquatic species that slow runoff from the adjacent land.

Shanghai Houtan Park is one of 16 projects featured in the FuturArc book, Ecopuncture: Transforming Architecture and Urbanism in Asia. Watch a short video on this project here: https://lnkd.in/e4miqvr

ECOPUNCTURE 6: The landscape of Pioneer and Crescent Halls (PCH) creates an illusion of a wild patch of nature. But the blue-green elements here do more than improve site hydrology or attract fauna (see my last post); there is also a direct and indirect impact on human residents and visitors.

To the south and east of the project, for instance, is a public housing estate, with a population of 68,000 residents. More than half of the housing estate fall is within a 10-minute walk of PCH. The network of boardwalks that cut through the PCH grounds is publicly accessible 24/7. A small food court serves residents and visitors alike. Recreational niches are nested within this landscape.

As a result of the greenery and water, the thermal comfort of users is improved. The site has a lower ambient temperature than the nearby housing estate. The ground plane is unobstructed, enabling airflow to further cool shared spaces.

The buildings that sit above this landscape benefit from this microclimate. The eight towers are shaped in plan as three prongs extending outwards from a central core. Corridors, stairwells and lift lobbies are naturally ventilated; student accommodation and communal areas are cooled with fans. The shallow plan-depth facilitates cross-ventilation and daylighting. There is indoor-outdoor connectivity in almost all functional spaces. Double-height sky decks on every two floors offer students places to gather.

These passive design strategies lower dependence on electro-mechanical systems. Rooms rely on ceiling fans instead of air conditioners. There is little or no need for electrical lighting, during the day.

The comfort of occupants is safeguarded by layer of envelope-affixed louvres wraps around the towers to temper solar heat gain, reduce glare, and offer protection from driving rain.

Finally, photovoltaic panels on the roof offset energy demand. Solar water heaters and heat recovery systems trim consumption. The overall energy index is 24.2 kWh/m2/year, low for a project of this type.

The socio-ecological value of this approach, merging architecture with landscape, is clear. There are direct benefits to human and non-human visitors alike. The land has been regenerated in ways that go beyond the needs of occupants and users. There is a ripple effect of goodness that extends out to the wider university campus and residential estate that lies beyond site boundary of PCH.

This ‘ripple of goodness’ is the very definition of Ecopuncture. Are there similar examples in your city, wherein a development alters the dynamics of its neighbourhood and creates a new space where all life can co-exist?

Pioneer and Crescent Halls is one of 16 projects featured in the FuturArc book, Ecopuncture: Transforming Architecture and Urbanism in Asia.

ECOPUNCTURE 6: Landscapes are often secondary to architecture, however, several projects are now challenging this view. Here, vegetation and water systems are embedded in the fabric of the building and landscapes, as ecosystem, are considered in their own right. The Pioneer and Crescent Halls (Singapore) shows this new union of architecture and landscape design.

Nanyang Technological University is situated in west Singapore, next to a secondary forest and a public housing estate. Its long-term masterplan aims to increase space for the community at large and species from nearby habitats, becoming a social and ecological nexus. As a demonstration of this ambition, eight student residential towers— the Pioneer and Crescent Halls (PCH) — have been built along its eastern edge.

The design of PCH began with a rethink of site hydrology. An existing drain was transformed into a naturalised waterway, meandering through a contoured, vegetated patch. Stormwater is pulled in from surrounding areas into a series of detention ponds — a process that slows the flow, and improves water quality. Edges of the waterways are populated with plants that have become habitats for birds and insects.

Onsite detention capacity was increased from 2,000 m3 to almost 5,600 m3; and the total surface area of the water retention ponds is 4,400 m2. The former lily pond has been transformed into a sedimentation basin, drawing water from surrounding areas, and discharging it into a second larger pond. Excess water from the overall system is discharged at the end into neighbourhood drains.

In total, the Green Plot Ratio of the development is 4.08, i.e. the total amount of greenery is more than four times the site area. This is substantial for a development in an urban setting. Some 78 species of plants were introduced, including palms, shrubs, trees, and ground cover. Of these, almost one third is native. Those around the wetlands and ponds support the goals of clean water and habitat creation. Others were selected specifically to attract vector-control insects, reducing the risk of dengue and other mosquito-borne diseases. Even though no audit has been carried out since its completion, a visible population of birds, dragonflies, and butterflies is seen on the PCH site.

Hovering above from this wild landscape are the eight residential tower, resting on pilotis. The total built up area of the development is some 47,000 m2 but the site coverage is only 28%. The project was designed and delivered by RSP in collaboration with the Japanese firm, Toyo Ito and Associates, Architects . The landscape consultants were Sitetectonix Pte Ltd , who worked with Greenology Pte Ltd on the water systems.

Pioneer and Crescent Halls is one of 16 projects featured in the FuturArc book, Ecopuncture: Transforming Architecture and Urbanism in Asia.

What is the future of the city? How might it behave? How will it be spatially structured? Much of what we face today – climate change, species extinction, social inequity – can be traced to the growth of the urban economy.

In a new offering on sustainable urbanism, the award-winning design firm, WOHA Architects, has released a 15-min video that frames these questions around a vision of Singapore in the year 2100. It postulates a rearrangement and regeneration of urban and ecological systems via four strategies.

NATURE. This starts with the conservation, protection and restoration of existing systems, such as forests, mangroves, and wetlands. This is followed by the integration of nature into the built environment, enhancing human well-being and increasing room for all life. Here, there is an explicit proposition of a ‘50/50 city’ (nod to Edward O. Wilson and his book ‘Half Earth’) wherein half the metropolitan footprint is turned over to nature, with parts of it left wild.

LAND-USE: Reversing urban expansion means rethinking density. Cities must be more compact and yet, somehow, more livable. WOHA’s solution is ‘3-dimensional planning’. Whereas 2-d planning adopts a top-down view of the city as standalone parts and zones, 3-d planning dissolves edges and adds new vertical layers. The urban section starts with, say, production and logistics underground; the ground reserved for nature, community space and slow mobility systems; stacks of living, working and food production spaces that are topped by energy production and air-based mobility. Everything you need is no more than 15 mins away, horizontally or vertically.

RESOURCE: The city seeks autonomy. Production of food, energy and water are embedded within the urban fabric, capitalising underused spaces like rooftops and facades. Buildings are flexible, adaptable and future-proof, designed for disassembly. The urban economy is built on circular flows of resources. The city becomes carbon neutral; its ecological footprint shrinks to ‘one earth’ or less

SOCIO-ECONOMIC: There is ample human and community-centric public space. People spend less time commuting; they lead active lifestyles, connecting with nature and staying close to loved ones.

What is remarkable (and perhaps also courageous) about the WOHA proposition is that it is presented here as something more than ideas. The video is a slow-motion fly-thru an imagined landscape that is meant to excite and sensualise.

This may well be the future of Singapore, a city that is already technically astute and tightly regulated. But what is the idealised form of your city? How might it differ from this vision?

Watch the video on YouTube or Vimeo:

https://youtu.be/XNsH0Wq26Bo

https://vimeo.com/manage/videos/609363474

ECOPUNCTURE THOUGHT-LEADERS. The co-founders of WOHA Architects, Wong Mun Summ and Richard Hassell, consistently seek engagement of urban and ecological systems through innovative form solutions, thereby asking questions on the future of the Asian city, and the dual challenges of urbanisation and climate change.

Bioclimatic performance is a point of interest, wherein the boundaries between indoor and outdoor are reimagined and greenery is integrated deep into the fabric of architectural form. Oasia Hotel Downtown, Parkroyal Collection Pickering and Kampung Admiralty (see last post) are exceptional examples of this.

Form is often contoured to draw in wind and light, and create shade and shelter. This “breathable” architecture does more than optimise energy and comfort. It projects affordance. The School of the Arts is three classroom blocks separated by gaps that accelerate airflow through an otherwise deep plan. These breezeways are also the school's social enclaves where students gather.

In SkyVille@Dawson, a public housing estate, the stacking of community decks, coupled with lateral and vertical air movements, promises comfort and speaks to the possibility of neighbourly interactions. This overlay of environmental purpose and social ambition is a hallmark of the firm's work.

In WOHA projects there is an explicit desire to bridge scales and connect systems. This was first tested in the proposal for the Duxton Plain Public Housing competition (2001). The brief stipulated a density three times higher than public housing estates in Singapore at the time, a requirement that was met with a strategy of micro-urbanism. The 1,800 apartments were configured into nine towers as urban columns that supported streets and public squares every fifth floor. With the stacking of these vertical villages, architectural typology began to mimic urban morphology.

In recent proposals, such as the Self Sufficient City, WOHA has begun to push the limits of systems integration. The insertion of urban farms and solar canopies in masterplans for onsite sourcing of food, energy, and water is an implicit position on resilient cities.

Not all of WOHA's ideas have been embraced by developers. The Duxton Plain Public Housing entry was not successful in its time; it took some 14 years for their vertical village to come to fruition in SkyVille@Dawson. It is worth considering then that the WOHA projects rejected today may well be the face of future.

WOHA is one of several design firms featured in the FuturArc book, Ecopuncture: Transforming Architecture and Urbanism in Asia.

Images from left: Oasia Hotel Downtown, Parkroyal Collection Pickering, Skyville@Dawson, School of the Arts, Self Suffient City

ECOPUNCTURE 4: WOHA Architects’ Kampung Admiralty is a new breed of Asian projects that surpass the requirements of Green certification tools, and ask what might be the road to sustainability.

The project has a 180 m2 community farm on its roof, tended to by residents who share the produce, growing more than 30 species of tropical plants, ranging from fruits, and herbs and spices, to vegetables and medicinal plants.

The development as a whole has a Green Plot Ratio of 4.26, which means that the total green area within the project site is over four times the site area. A 2018 audit of several locations in the neighbourhood found that the project has a species diversity (50 in total), exceeding those of nearby patches of green.

In addition to the roof as public space, the plaza on the ground is a hive of activity. Since it opened in 2017, more than 130 community activities have been held here, drawing more than 83,000 residents from all over Singapore. These include weekly physical fitness classes, performances, movie screenings, festive celebrations, and carnivals. This plaza plugs into existing pedestrian networks, linking residential to commercial, retail, public spaces, and services.

In most Green buildings, resource use is often a question of trimming waste by improving the efficiency of mechanical and electrical systems. In Kampung Admiralty, this is also rooted in demand management and onsite generation, aided by the form of the architecture. Energy demand, for instance, is reduced through a combination of natural ventilation and open-air public spaces. Only 55% of the total gross floor area is fitted with air conditioning. Almost all spaces enjoy daylight access. About 360 solar panels on the roof power the common services.

Vegetation on the terraced hill guides the flow of rainwater by force of gravity. It is filtered as it passes successive planter beds and bioswales that absorb and clean. Water is then collected in a central rain garden, pumped upwards for rooftop irrigation or filtered down to the biotope and eco-pond on the ground.

This approach to creating multi-use, multilayered and generous architecture is high-density areas challenges the assumption that density invariably leads to a degradation of urban quality. Is there a building in your city - old or new - that does this just as well?

Kampung Admiralty is one of 16 projects featured in the FuturArcbook, Ecopuncture: Transforming Architecture and Urbanism in Asia. This is a continuation of my last post on the same building.

ECOPUNTURE 4: In cities where density is a challenge, how can a single building maximise land-use and merge programmes – social and ecological – in a way that is win-win for all stakeholders?

Kampung Admiralty is Singapore's first urban village designed by WOHA Architects. It injects communal spirit into public housing within the constraints of high-density, high-rise living. With a unique mix of programmes, the building is akin to a village square. What sets it apart from other mixed-use public buildings is the intentional layering of social and ecological spaces.

The architects refer to as the ‘club sandwich’ architecture. It starts with a double-height retail plaza on the ground, and a medical centre, an eldercare and childcare facilities on floors above. Two residential blocks containing 104 studio apartments and a green roof cap things off. This strategy of layering offers several important synergies.

The placement of homes for the elderly next to a childcare centre creates room for old and young to interact. Public space is overlaid with a medical centre, residences, and green cover. The water system is integrated with greenery: plants filter the runoff; the water collected irrigates plants. The inclusion of an elevated community farm encourages an active lifestyle. The roof attracts birds and insects, offering a biophilic experience to visitors.



Kampung Admiralty is one of 16 projects featured in the FuturArc book, Ecopuncture: Transforming Architecture and Urbanism in Asia.



ALERT: The co-founding director of WOHA, Mr Wong Mun Summ, will be speaking in two free-to-air webinars on 26th Aug 2021, hosted by MSc Integrated Sustainable Design programme at the National University of Singapore.



Registration here for the 1st webinar ‘Form Follows System - S to M’ at 1000 hrs (Singapore time):

https://nus-sg.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_wmgJ0vjVSkW4_ohWEnnyiQ.



Registration here for the 2nd webinar ‘Form Follows System - M to L’ at 1400 hrs (Singapore time):

https://nus-sg.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_2xskfn7KTHOj3gPZ2vGHHQ

ECOPUNCTURE 3: Seeing thriving ecosystems and rich biodiversity offers a deep connection with nature and its processes.

In the last post, I talked about Wusong Riverfront park, a remarkable project in the city of Kunshan (People’s Republic of China) that has restored the ecological health of a brownfield site. It offers visitors an altogether new perspective of nature, not often seen in ornamental landscapes of China. This immersion in ‘wild’ nature is paired with practical amenities.

Where public space interfaces with the river, for instance, the park has fountains, gardens, plazas, and activity areas connected by bicycle and pedestrian paths. Further inland, the ponds and channels for water treatment are linked to gardens, open spaces, and a boardwalk that runs the length of the park.

Sediment ponds double as reflection pools while treatment channels are designed as stone gardens and bird lounges. The aeration part of the cleansing process is presented as ripple and bubble pools. These spaces seek to engage and educate visitors by showcasing water treatment.

With this much greenery and clean water, air quality and ambient temperatures have corrected; a survey of bird and insect species showed an increased presence of fauna. The area has also become more flood resilient.

The Yangtze River Delta region, where the park is located, has a history of frequent flooding, aggravated in recent years by rapid urbanisation that has led to a loss of permeable surfaces and groundwater recharge. The park, designed as a buffer between the river and adjacent developments, has contoured spillways to guide water to designated inundation zones. Levees and water gates regulate the flow of flood waters from the river into the park.

The popularity of the park, seen as a recreation space of high quality, has translated to economic gains for the developer, who plans a commercial-residential on nearby plots.

Wusong Riverfront is one of 16 projects featured in the FuturArc book, Ecopuncture: Transforming Architecture and Urbanism in Asia. It was led by a design team at SWA Group under Huili Lee

ECOPUNCTURE 3: How does a park become a node of regeneration? The blue-green systems of a city, once only for leisure/recreation, can be so much more.

Wusong Riverfront (WR), is a 95 ha public park initiated in the city of Kunshan (People’s Republic of China), the first step in an ambitious masterplan. Here, the developer hedges future financial returns with investment in the restoration of degraded ecosystems. This restoration improves water quality, rehabilitates post-industrial brownfield sites, and reclaims the waterfront as public space.

The backstory is common to cities across Asia. Decades of unregulated discharge from factories, runoff from farmland, and other sources of waste have severely degraded water quality along the Wusong River, a major transportation corridor in the Northern Yangtze River Delta. The site was rife with excavation pits, and often inundated with runoff from adjacent land.

By linking ecological and fiscal outcomes, the masterplan increases land value by reviving natural systems that contribute to livability. Phase I prioritises water treatment and habitat creation to rejuvenate a riparian ecosystem that doubles as a public park. Phase II will include new residential and commercial district, with a built-up area of some 80,000 m2.

Hydrology informed every step of the design process at SWA Group lead by Huili Lee. This began with a detailed study of the river and its watershed. The new park would be a kidney for the precinct, treating water from the river and runoff from nearby areas.

Passive methods of settling, filtration, and bioprocessing are integrated with active treatment processes such as aeration ponds. Five pools and landscape features are strung together into 10 steps of cleansing. The technique has led to a significant improvement in water quality: Grade V water, at the point of intake, leaves as Grade III or better, at the point of discharge.

As a result, biodiversity has returned to the site. Visitors have begun to see and experience natural systems in new ways. Property prices in nearby districts have risen since the completion of the park.

The financial gamble on ecosystem restoration appears to have paid off. But the investment in ecosystems might not have been viable without the promise of returns from the redevelopment of a wider area. Land value of this future masterplan, in turn, might not have been raised, if not for the ecological success of the project. A bio-centric approach is clearly a win-win for all.

Where in your city might this type of development take place?

Wusong Riverfront is one of 16 projects featured in the FuturArc book, Ecopuncture: Transforming Architecture and Urbanism in Asia.

ECOPUNCTURE: The genius of Farming Kindergarten is the way that it merges social and ecological. The roof as farm and community space is its bold idea (see last post). But there are other, less visible, strategies that make this an exemplar for developing Asia.

Take water. Ground water in the area is contaminated, therefore self-sufficiency was critical. The building collects rain that falls on the site and treats waste water from a nearby factory to flush toilets and irrigate non-edible vegetation. Runoff is collected in underground tanks under the courtyard, where it is reserved for irrigation in the dry season. These efforts have made the kindergarten 80% self-sufficient.

The project is in a hot-humid zone where buildings tend to over-rely on air conditioning. The Kindergarten, however, maximises passive strategies that obviate the need for mechanical cooling. The green roof acts as a thermal insulator; onsite trees offer shade and create a microclimate. A narrow plan-depth and operable windows make 90% of indoor space naturally ventilated. Large windows minimise reliance on electrical lighting. Vertical louvres and climbing plants cool the facades, and temper light entering classrooms. Energy demand is further reduced by solar water heaters. In all, this building is 40% more energy efficient than others of its kind.

When architects talk Green, there is anxiety that this will cost more. The Farming Kindergarten, however, cost less to build and run than an equivalent building in Vietnam. At VND 11.7 million (USD 500)/m2 — low by Vietnamese standards — with 40% energy savings and 80% water savings, the strategies quickly paid off.

The project's success has validated architect Vo Trong Nghia's position on nature-inspired architecture. This starts in the way architectural form is visualised. His earlier Binh Duong School (Binh Duong Province, Vietnam, 2012) also had a coiled form and roof farm. It worked as a passive-run building but the farm did not operationalise for various reasons. These issues were resolved with the Kindergarten where social engagement was on the table from the start, in collaboration with the client and users. This is one of the first projects in Vietnam to show the potency of greenery as a socio-ecological layer, driving the form of the architecture.

Many designers in Asia assume that Greening is about engineered systems. Can you think of another, like Farming Kindergarten, that starts with a rethink of architectural form?


Farming Kindergarten is one of 16 projects featured in the FuturArc book, Ecopuncture: Transforming Architecture and Urbanism in Asia.

Images: Farming Kindergarten courtyard + other projects by same architect: House for Trees, Binh Duong School, Atlas Hotel. Portrait Vo Trong Nghia

ECOPUNCTURE CASE STUDY 2: How to design in a neighbourhood beset by pollution and a lack of green space? Farming Kindergarten (Vietnam) shows the way.

Once a peri-urban farming community, Bien Hoa is one of many manufacturing hubs serving Ho Chi Minh City. Over the course of the years, the area has seen a loss of green cover and the contamination of water and soil. Most factory workers are young couples with children who depend on small, informal day-care centres, many of which have no space for play, insufficient outdoor areas and greenery, and must rely on food and water that may be from contaminated sources.

In the area, water taken from the D**g Nai River and bore wells is contaminated, in part because untreated sewage is discharged into the river daily. Bien Hoa is also a known hotspot for the dioxin, Agent Orange, a persistent herbicide used in the Vietnam War (1954–1975).

For the children of workers at the Pou Chen Shoe Factory, things are different. Set away from the street within a gated site, the Farming Kindergarten (FK) is a refuge of sorts, sheltered from the dust and noise of the neighbourhood. The building’s system actively capture and clean rainwater onsite; the roof produces healthy food for its occupants.

The architecture is a pretzel-shaped, two-storey structure capped with a continuous circle of rooftop green. The logic here is twofold. First, the coiled shape creates three inner courtyards where children can play in safety with-out supervision. Second, the roof is used as a community space and farm.

There are many noteworthy features in the building (check out next post) but the rooftop farm stands out. It attracts parents on weekends, and engages them directly in the welfare of their children. Most of what is harvested is used in the FK kitchen; the rest is distributed to the volunteers. The farm produces pumpkin, gourd, melon, cabbage, eggplant, sweet potato, and spinach, amongst other things. The yield averages 40–50 kg per month, and meets about a substantial part of kindergarten's catering needs.

The creation of a farm offers a new perspective on the role of architecture in developing economies where there is a large movement of people from countryside to city. It explicitly connects people moving to cities with their agricultural roots.

The project is the brainchild of Vo Trong Nghia of VTN Architects. He advocates more greenery in buildings primarily as a way of mitigating the country's urban woes.

The urban-rural dichotomy that Nghia addresses with the Kindergarten is not unique to Ho Chi Minh City. This is a pattern seen in cities across Asia. Is there a project like this in your city?

Farming Kindergarten is one of 16 projects featured in the FuturArc book, Ecopuncture: Transforming Architecture and Urbanism in Asia.