Underground, Ho Chi Minh City

Ho Chi Minh City AKA Saigon is undergoing a major transformation and this includes the construction of its first underground metro transport line.The project has recently started construction and is due for completion in 2018. The city currently has an amazing and chaotic culture of scooter transport. The great metropolitan underground systems have transformed those cities for 100 years. In Ho Chi Minh City
this will happen at the same time as the explosion in western luxury goods and, iphones and social media. What will this transformation mean for the city in the future? What can design contribute to that situation? In this studio we will carry out an urban scale design project structured around the proposed transport system, with a series of themes and sites. The underground as an urban place; mobility as an
urban driver; smart and virtual cities; skinny interventions. There will be a strong focus on observation and evidence; thinking strategically and thinking at a big scale.