The Vietnamese-German University (VGU) is a unique collaboration between the World Bank, the Vietnam Ministry of Education and Training, and the German Hessen State Ministry of Science and Art. The institution has the goals of developing an internationally accredited higher education program for research and professional advancement for Vietnamese students, inspiring a renovation of the Vietnamese educational system, and building a campus to house this program.  

The university offers advanced undergraduate and post-graduate programs, capitalizing on the expertise of German academic partners and the demands of Vietnam’s unique scientific, technological, and socio-economic challenges. Machado Silvetti led both the campus master plan and the design for the numerous buildings, including laboratories, classrooms, food-courts, sports halls, administrative spaces, and dormitories for 12,000 students.  

The masterplan combines the flexibility of a contemporary campus layout and environmentally sensible building concepts with a strong formal expressions. The campus zoning strategy is reinforced by a modified language for the building types. The residential and academic buildings maintain similar formal qualities, but vary in size and color. Meanwhile, architectural destinations such as the library, lecture hall, and ceremonial buildings differ from one another and assert themselves in the campus as unique presences. Each building utilizes passive cooling systems, lowering emission and energy demands resulting in savings for operating and maintenance costs while increasing user well-being. 

As a whole, the campus comes together as a collection of buildings that are rationally different from each other yet cohesive, creating a sense of liveliness and variation that encourages engagement and exploration, and that will ensure the place lingers in people’s minds and imaginations.