RMIT Beanland Refurbishment
Location - Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
Site area - 4000 sqm
Building area - 10,000 sqm
Categories - Education Design
Website - www.rmit.edu.vn
Services
Strategic Briefing & Ideation
Master Planning
Architecture
Interior Design
Graphic Design
Environmental Graphics, Wayfinding & Signage
Awards
International Property Awards, Best Public Service Interior, Vietnam, 2017-2018
The Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) is an Australian-based university operating in Vietnam, with three campuses located in Ho Chi Minh City, Danang and Hanoi.
In 1998 RMIT in Australia invited by the Vietnamese Government to establish a wholly foreign-owned university in Vietnam, and in 2000, became the first foreign university to be granted a licence to deliver undergraduate and postgraduate education, training and research. Since opening the first campus in Ho Chi Minh City, the university has won numerous awards for excellence in education, and the design of its campus environments.
In 2016, OUT-2 Design was commissioned to develop a refurbishment strategy and design for the University’s first Academic Building (AB1); creating a vision that would transform the building and its internal environments.
About RMIT University
The Brief
The primary purpose of the Beanland Refurbishment Project was to improve quality standards for teaching and learning facilities at RMIT Vietnam. The resulting building was to be a modern facility of international standards exhibiting design excellence and innovation to facilitate leading pedagogies while enhancing and improving both the student experience and the staff work environment.
The design needed to incorporate in-built flexibility for the building’s lifecycle so that shifts and changes in student needs and pedagogies could be readily accommodated without the need for continual upgrades and remodelling.
Despite the high environmental performance of the original building (GreenStar), the redesign required a target sustainable design accreditation of LEED Gold Standard and Vietnam Green Building Council (VGBC) LOTUS Gold Rating.
Working closely with RMIT stakeholder groups, OUT-2 Design defined seven core principles that would drive design decisions and outcomes:
1. STUDENT EXPERIENCE: Each design intervention must add value to the Student Experience, and each should add to a greater overall quality of experience across the Campus.
2. QUALITY: Ensuring the highest quality environments for students, teachers, staff and visitors.
Design principles
3. FLEXIBILITY: Ensuring that spaces can easily be adapted and or reconfigured to meet changing needs and future requirements.
4. CONSISTENCY & CONTINUITY: Ensuring that the diverse range of spaces and facilities to be designed share elements of a common character and design language that characterise RMIT Vietnam.
5. RMIT BRAND VALUE: Ensuring that the brand value of RMIT is clearly and consistently communicated across different areas and facilities.
Design principles
6. VIETNAMESE CONTEXT: Understanding the local context and perceptions of quality, symbology and culture as they relate to design and the selection of materials and finishes.
7. SHOWCASING STUDENT-WORK: Opportunities for displaying a diverse range of student works shall be incorporated throughout the campus, ranging from permanent display cases for fashion and future design programs, through to display areas and showcases suitable for accommodating a wide range of media and student works.
Design principles
For more information on this project, or our Design Services, please email us via the link below.