The globally active architecture firm gmp, which has branches worldwide, has announced its selection by jury in an international competition for the construction of a new university campus in Wuxi, China. The new university, which will focus on IT, robotics and engineering, is designed to accommodate about 10,000 students.

This win comes on the heels of gmp’s first-place finish in another global competition for the new Brighton College campus in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, an independent school for about 1,900 students. It also adds to a deep portfolio of higher education projects by von Gerkan, Marg and Partners Architects. Notable current university projects by gmp include a plan with adapted and new buildings for the sustainability-focused Campus Neuburg in Germany, as well as Academic City Yerevan in Armenia, which unites 26 separate campuses.

Others include the main building at the Hamburg University of Technology and the Shanghai Academy of Fine Arts, which is being created from a former stainless-steel mill.

About the Wuxi Campus

Reflecting the firm’s approach of designing in dialogue with clients, gmp’s master plan for the university in Wuxi is inspired by its natural topography south of the Yangtze River, which is marked by an extensive network of waterways. “The existing water features on the site will be purposefully and sustainably expanded to create a natural boundary for the campus and to structure the landscape within the site,” gmp said. “Pathways follow the waterways, forming an extensive network that connects the teaching, research, residential and sports buildings.”

The central focus of the campus plan is its diversity of meeting spaces, both indoors and outdoors, to promote interdisciplinary exchange and student creativity. This is especially evident in an ensemble of four department buildings, connected on the second and third floors by a circular base structure, which gmp designed as the heart of the campus. Each of the four buildings accommodates public functions on the first floor: a student center, laboratory, auditorium and library. At the intersections of the base and the department buildings, spaces for interdisciplinary exchange are planned. At the center, the ensemble forms a courtyard for reading and relaxation.

Residential, sports and administrative facilities are located along the outer waterway. On the south side of the campus, a conference center, hotel and university administration offices are arranged on either side of an existing avenue leading to the main entrance. In the northwest and southeast of the campus, student dormitories are distributed and connected by plinth buildings and bridges. In addition to a sports field, a sports center with a swimming pool and gymnasium is planned.

The landscape design connects the inner ring’s teaching and research space with the outer ring’s supporting functions. Conceived as a car-free, eco-friendly campus, the master plan favors autonomous shuttle buses, with stops accessible within a 200-meter walking distance.