This international minor is interesting for students of Architecture, Civil Engineering, Spatial/Urban design and Water Management  eager to develop their design talent and learn from working within the context of another culture. You will work as an expert in an interdisciplinary team and as part of a team you will focus on water-related problems caused by climate change in an urban area in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. You will do both Research and Design. Although it is not strictly required, it is strongly recommended that you finished your third year of your Bachelor program since the level expected will be based on 4th year Bachelor.

A challenging context
The urgent need to re-think, re-imagine and re-design cities by a worldwide network of experts, is the result of the threats being posed by climate change; Glabally we will have to deal with rising sea and water levels. According to Waggonner Ball, designing for resilience, requires living with water and a willingness to see a threat as an opportunity.

 

The Dutch approach to solving water issues in urban residential and river areas has gained international attention. “Room for the river”, building with nature and the consensus economy are at the heart of this approach. In the minor, you will experience for yourself what this Dutch approach actually implies for your expertise. Furthermore, you will learn if or how it can be applied to a project proposal abroad, while taking cultural differences and socio-economic issues into account.

 

Project

Like last couple of years, this year the focus will be on Ho Chi Ming City (HCMC). HCMC is a low elevation coastal megacity with a very large and rapidly increasing population. Economic activity is also very high and rising in line with the population increase. Like most megacities in South East Asia that were built within delta’s boundaries, HCMC is affected by flood related risks aggravated by the conjunction of heavy rains and high tide levels. This situation is driven by three factors: low elevation of the land above sea level, extensive urban growth yielding to soil subsidence, and an extension of impervious areas resulting in increased runoff (Tran Ngoc et al., 2016).

 

International multidisciplinary cooperation is what we need to make our cities future proof. The ambition of this minor is imagining and designing solutions and coming up with daring designs for a delimited area in this Vietnamese City. Making booming cities resilient, needs imagination, only great vision and creativity can lead to innovations that are able to make such cities future proof. Students have to come up with solutions and new ideas for dealing with excesses or shortages of water and water pollution while (re)designing for resilience. The project work involves a concrete urban siteplan on Meso and Micro scale with resilient water strategies incorporated. With this Urban and Water system design proposal architects design their buildings. The challenge is to use ‘Water as Leverage’ as a design concept for Cities. More information  on this approach can be found on the website dutchwatersector.com.

Lectures, courses and workshops:

Workshops/courses  and lectures are part of the Minor covering subjects related to the project and your area of personal expertise. The workshops will include the following:

1. FLOODGAME
2. DUTCH APPROACH
3. WATERWISE (RE)DESIGN
4. (RE)DESIGNING PUBLIC SPACE
5. INNOVATIVE DESIGN SKILLS
6. WORKING WITH OTHER CULTURES
7. BIOBASED AND CO2 NEGATIVE DESIGN
8. VISUALIZATIONS

This aligned study program is organized with relevant partners according to this year’s project: companies, architects and urban planners, civil engineers, partner Universities in Vietnam,...and Avans research groups.

International cooperation and excursion to Vietnam

We will work together with two universities in Vietnam. Vietnamese students will work on the same problem and project site as their Dutch peers. During the Minor activities are organized to work together with the Vietnamese students in order to learn from each other. An excursion to Ho Chi Minh City will be organized in mid-October where Dutch students and Vietnamese students will work closely together. This excursion is not obligatory and an alternative program is offered for those staying at home. Next to workshops and lectures there will be time to enjoy and discover Vietnam as well.

 

Individual design versus teamwork
You will choose and formulate your own particular research questions within the framework of the Minor. You will be part of an interdisciplinary design team and contribute to the project design of that team. You will be expected to make concrete design proposals as an expert and together with your team. Input from a team of tutors will guide you through this course. Each project team consists idyllically of 3 experts; an architect an urban designer  and a civil engineer or water manager.

Professional products
What will you deliver as a water manager?
You will be expected to make calculations to solve flooding issues , a concrete design of a water related engineering project, while taking into account some of the following: use of materials, organization of space, spatial characteristics and elements, form, functionality, civil design concepts, urban context, cultural context, stakeholders, etc. Input from a team of experts (architects, civil engineers, urban planners, water managers etc.) will guide you through this course.  You will also have to submit a coherent set of drawings: elevations, plans, cross sections, etc. Additionally you will submit 3D models, sketches and other forms of visualizations which clearly illustrate the design process.

• Further develop your skills in design and gaining insight into the role of your expertise in a team of experts.
• Coming up with and testing innovative design solutions in order to embrace water instead of fighting it.
• By identifying stakeholders and understanding their interests , you will be able to translate design requirements into a proposal for a resilient design for a designated site area.
• By understanding what the Dutch Approach entails, you will be able to test its principles while exploring water and liveability problems abroad.
• By understanding the problem of climate change in relation to the building industry, you will be able to make sustainable design decisions (e.g., the use of bio-based materials, green, lean – supported by research groups).
• By studying examples from all over the world, you will gain an understanding of cultural and social differences related to water, building and urban related practices which in turn will influence your design decisions.
• You will be able to visualize your results while making use of all the appropriate means.

This program is open to you if you have successfully completed at least 2 years of a bachelor's degree program relating to the built environment. Other disciplines are welcome after an intake interview. Contact Patrick Lenssen for this.

Eligible disciplines include:

• Architecture/Constructional Engineering (expert: architectural design)
• Spatial Planning Design (expert: urban designer)
• Urban Design (expert: urban designer)
• Water management (expert: water manager/engineer)
• Civil Engineering (expert: water manager/engineer)

Important note: you will need to design, create 2d and 3d drawings.

Especially for architects and urban designers it is strongly recommended that you have some experience in designing in your education before starting this Minor.

Proficiency with drawing programs is therefore required.

(for example: Autocad, Revit, Archicad ,Vectorworks,  sketchup or other 2d/3d software)

(The following programs are advisable to use, photoshop, illustrator and InDesign, Adobe Suite package for two students cost 139,-/year, very handy for graduation as well.

This is a full-time program. The activities will be scheduled over the course of the week (2 to 3 days) and include workshops, lectures, project preparation, project execution, supervision and feedback sessions. You will be expected to attend at least 80% of all the activities. To promote the progress of the project, interim evaluations and presentations will be held. The  workload of the Minor is around 40 hours a week (including workshops and tutoring).

• September: Start of the Minor (exact date will be communicated)
• Mid October: Study trip to Vietnam or internationalization@home (for those who will not join to Vietnam)
• End of January Final presentation

In this program you can earn 30 ECTS credits as an integrated whole study unit. Assessments will take the form of reviews of and feedback on the weekly submissions and on the final product and presentation held as part of the closing symposium.

Language: English 

Location: The Avans campus in Den Bosch is our main location. This minor is part of the bachelor program “Bouwkunde Den Bosch (BOU-H)”. You will need this information to apply (Studielink). 

For questions related to the content of the minor please contact:
Patrick Lenssen( coordinator), p.lenssen@avans.nl

For questions related to registration and other formal questions minor please contact:
minoren.adgo@avans.nl