✕Conceived as both an academic institution and a catalyst for national STEM development, the Vietnamese–German University campus about 30 miles outside of Ho Chi Minh City reflects the ambitions—and the challenges—of a rapidly transforming country. After winning a 2014 international competition to design a ground-up campus for 12,000 students, Machado Silvetti’s task was not simply to create a master plan across 125 acres, but to give physical form to an emerging model of international academic partnership. Capitalizing on the expertise of German academic partners, the school aims to ready graduates for the rapid scientific and technological growth of Vietnam’s economy. The university althletic complex with the main lecture hall building seen in the distance. Photo © StudioDAGAt the time of the competition, the rural landscape of Binh Duong Province offered little context for a university—surrounding land was an expanse of fields slated for development.