Surbana Jurong’s Landscape Architecture team has clinched a landscape concept masterplan project for resilient landscape on the ecological island of Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.
The project site for this eco island, off the river of Ho Chi Minh, sits on 204 hectares with extensive natural swamp forests. Named Saigon Eye, it is a project spanning over 10 years and it is set to be a future landmark city in the southeast of Ho Chi Minh (HCM) City.
The masterplan is a high-level landscape concept with the aim of creating an island where Vietnamese and overseas visitors can live, work and play in – like a Sentosa Cove but one with a theme park, waterways for boating and kayaking, parks with signature landscapes of Vietnam, commercial and office developments. The new project will be connected with HCM city, and the rest of the world through the airport 45 minutes away, as a star tourist attraction as well. The concept is underpinned by three core design elements, namely a sustainable central waterpark, an ecological wetland park, a resilience riverfront park and futuristic theme park.
The long-term plan is to adhere to sustainable and green environment-friendly principles for the masterplan. The immediate plan design is for the protection of the shorelines and stabilise them against erosion, implement wetland water management systems to collect rainwater and treat it. This will help to restore ecological integrity, preserve and protect aquatic resources and improve self-sustainability. The team also envisages the use of smart landscape monitoring systems down the road as the water situation and landscape improve on the island, and it has plans for developing sustainable townships then.
Surbana Jurong was one of the eight shortlisted companies bidding for the project and we are proud to have achieved it against tough competition.
“Clients are constantly seeking new, innovative design ideas, and our belief is that no single design solution can be applied across all projects,” said Oliver Ng, Landscape Director, SJ Architecture (Landscape team).
“It’s a comprehensive design strategy, to explore new science-based methods for sustainable parks, water resilience, intelligent landscape, biodiversity, ecological landscape impacts, and how they can all add up to tourist attraction. This is another milestone achievement of SJ landscape architecture. Well done to Singapore SJ team. We managed to secure and hope to move to the next stage of downstream work for Singapore and Vietnam SJ teams. Let’s create another masterpiece for SJ Landscape architecture.”
