description

As a participant in the 2025 ISCM competition, our proposal, “The Sacred Pulse of the City”, reimagines the Cái River waterfront as a dynamic cultural corridor centered on Xóm Bóng. Located along the Cái River, the project aims to connect scattered green spaces and cultural landmarks, forming a vibrant heritage park landscape and a new transit core to attract tourists.

The first objective is to develop a continuous cultural trail along the river, integrating historical sites with walking paths, wayfinding signage, rest areas, and outdoor exhibition spaces to promote ecological connectivity and visitor engagement. The second objective transforms Xóm Bóng into a cultural-tourism focal point, hosting traditional performances, craft workshops, night markets, and folk festivals.

The strategic plan begins with transforming scattered green spaces into lush, connected areas. In the medium term, a heritage route on Xóm Bóng Island will be developed to link cultural destinations and provide interactive experiences. Long-term goals emphasize enhancing walkability and climate comfort through green infrastructure and riverfront activation, ultimately shaping a resilient, inclusive, and identity-rich urban landscape.

description

Facing an increasing in urbanization and environmental degradation, this proposal aims to reimagine Nha Trang as a resilient and sustainable city by integrating green infrastructure, ecosystem restoration, and community-based eco-tourism. Through a landscape-driven strategy, the design seeks to increase urban flexibility, restore ecological balance, and enhance the city’s livability while promoting sustainable economic growth.

The core vision is to implement a long-term transformation plan based on urban resilience and adaptive landscape design, with an emphasis on reconnecting fragmented ecosystems, restoring flood-prone areas, and increasing biodiversity. A key feature is the introduction of an Eco-Tourism Route that stimulates the local economy, redistributes income to communities, and reinforces Nha Trang’s identity as an ecological destination.

The proposal is structured into three phases over 15 years, with clear, actionable goals.

Phase 1 focuses on flood mitigation and green recovery. Flood-prone zones are reclaimed as wetlands, while pocket parks are developed in underused urban spaces to increase community green areas. The use of blue-green infrastructure and bioengineering techniques—such as permeable pavements and water retention zones—helps manage stormwater naturally and cost-effectively.

Phase 2 emphasizes ecological connectivity and coastal resilience. A 6.5-kilometer Eco-Pedestrian Bridge is introduced as a new urban landmark, linking various ecological zones and encouraging biodiversity corridors. This phase also includes beach restoration, construction of artificial dunes and green beachfronts, and enforcement of LID policies requiring green roofs and designated green areas in new developments.

Phase 3 proposes Floating Green Platforms along the river to mitigate erosion, reclaim riverside flood zones, and expand urban green space. This complements Phase 1 by reinforcing ecological buffers and providing multifunctional green infrastructure.

Overall, the phases work toward enhancing sustainability in three key dimensions—environmental, social, and economic—by restoring natural systems, creating inclusive public spaces, and supporting long-term urban resilience. This proposal not only addresses current urban challenges but also ensures that Nha Trang evolves into a greener, more adaptive city with an enduring connection to its natural heritage.

description

River Rhyme is a visionary urban development project that reimagines Nha Trang as a resilient and compact city. At its core, River Rhyme advances an integrative strategy that links blue-green infrastructure, economic revitalization, and cultural continuity. Rather than resisting the forces of nature, this project tends to embrace them through the design of flood-adaptive public spaces, permeable surfaces, and landscape buffers that protect while inviting community life to the water’s edge.

In the way of life, Nha Trang’s rich cultural identity rooted in fishing communities, market rhythms and coastal rituals is not erased by modernization but reborn. By developing heritage trails, floating pavilions and co-designed districts reconnect the past with the present, re-engaging locals and tourists in a shared cultural experience that evolves with the city.

To enhance city economic vitality, this project shifts the focus from seasonal tourism toward self-sustaining urban vitality, guided by the principles of a compact city model through Transit-Oriented Development (TOD). This approach concentrates growth into walkable, mixed-use districts around mobility hubs, especially north of the Cai River, where access and opportunity have historically been limited. These TOD nodes act as new urban cores, enriched with jobs, housing, markets, and creative landmarks such as artisan villages and cultural plazas. The result is a more equitable and connected city, where prosperity spreads across the river, and every citizen can access work, services, and a higher quality of life without expanding the city’s footprint.

Ultimately, River Rhyme is not just an urban plan. It is a living framework that flows with the city’s pulse and prepares it for an uncertain future. Resilient to storms, connected by design, and compact with care, Nha Trang is invited to grow not by resisting change but by learning to move with it.
“When the river speaks, the city listens.
And when the tide turns, Nha Trang is ready to dance.”

description

The proposal “Rebirth from the Source” envisions a bold transformation of the Cai River into the cultural and ecological heart of Nha Trang. Rather than treating the river as a boundary that divides urban life, the project repositions it as a vital lifeline that reconnects nature, people, and heritage. This vision emerges from a deep understanding of the river’s historic and symbolic role in shaping the city’s identity—both as a physical axis and as a source of collective memory.

At the heart of the masterplan are two primary goals: restoring nature and reactivating human life. On the one hand, the proposal introduces nature-based solutions—namely, mangrove corridors, eco parks, and green belts—to mitigate rising salinity, flooding, and climate vulnerability. These interventions are intended to create long-term resilience, enhance water quality, and restore biodiversity along the river's edge. On the other hand, the proposal also aims to revitalize public and cultural spaces to improve everyday life. This involves designing heritage trails, cultural squares, and community nodes that facilitate local services, celebrate identity, and encourage a vibrant 24-hour economy.

The masterplan is organized around three interlinked zones that address the site's urban and natural conditions. In the suburban zone behind the salinity dam, the strategy is ecological restoration through mangrove landscapes along railways and canals. The urban residential zone, under severe threat from flooding and salinity intrusion, is reconfigured with natural buffers—green corridors, eco parks, and aquaculture ponds—ensuring safety while providing tourism and recreational opportunities. And the service and tourism zone, where iconic landmarks like Ponagar Temple and Dam Market are located, is planned to integrate economic development with cultural identity. This involves shoreline protection, restored upstream mangroves, and lively public plazas celebrating heritage and commerce.

A narrative named "One River – Three Banks of Culture" threads through the plan, transforming the riverfront into a succession of meaningful experiences. It begins at The Bank of Origin, a spiritual space at the base of Ponagar Temple, continues through The Bank of Resonance, a living museum of Cham culture, and concludes at The Bank of Intermingling, where business and communal life converge at Dam Market. Collectively, these destinations reveal a city in harmony with its river.

Supported by a 12-year phased implementation plan, this proposal presents a definitive, actionable future. It builds a self-renewing urban ecosystem in which ecology, culture, and community are indistinguishably woven—giving Nha Trang not only a revitalized river, but a redefined identity.

description

Resonance envisions a living landscape in which heritage, nature, and urban life converge through shared rhythms, not as fragmented layers, but as a continuous pulse that breathes with the people of Nha Trang. The design is anchored in the belief that sacred landmarks such as Po Nagar Tower, the Sạn Mountain range, and the Cái River are not static relics of the past, but vibrant presences that participate in everyday life. They are remembered through rituals, embedded in craft traditions, and deeply rooted in the consciousness of generations who have grown up alongside them.

Rather than treating these elements as isolated icons, the proposal views them as parts of a larger, living ecosystem where urban infrastructures, cultural practices, and ecological flows are intimately entangled. The design seeks to synchronize the spatial experience of Nha Trang with the emotional and symbolic resonance of its cultural heart. Through this approach, the project redefines Po Nagar not merely as a sacred site, but as a center of gravity, a source from which spatial and cultural currents ripple outward and return.

The proposal introduces a layered network of interventions, beginning with a system of pedestrian and cycling corridors that connect Po Nagar Tower to nearby traditional villages, urban arteries, and riverside edges. These corridors are not simply routes, but narrative pathways, shaped with materials that echo the past, planted with native species that cool and filter the air, and embedded with visual and tactile cues that guide movement and memory. Along these paths, key nodes are designed as places of cultural interaction: small public squares, craft pavilions, interpretive gardens, and open-air stages that allow everyday life to blend seamlessly with ritual, history, and celebration.

Ecological features are carefully integrated throughout the site with green corridors along the Sạn foothills, flood-resilient wetlands near the Cái River, and porous paving that allows water to move and breathe with the land. Every design gesture is intended to remain subtle yet meaningful, drawing from Cham iconography, local vernacular architecture, and the soft transitions of the natural terrain.

Ultimately, Resonance is a proposal about continuity: not only of space, but of identity. It invites visitors and residents alike to move through a landscape that remembers—one where the breath of the city, the spirit of its people, and the pulse of its heritage are aligned in a shared rhythm of becoming.

description

Nha Trang is one of the most famous coastal tourist cities in Vietnam. With the accelerating rate of tourism service development and increasing reputation, the waterfront area of Nha Trang is facing risk of overload. Along the Cai River area, high-rise hotels ruin the natural landscape of mountain and river, and people traveling there are increasingly burdening both the natural and cultural system at the estuary. The blue and green infrastructure are fragmented and discontinuous. The existing land use map is filled with disordered settlement and low accessibility in the area of Ngoc Hoi and Lu Cam. These conditions are necessary to be mapped with ecological zoning and construction viability maps.

On the other hand, the low recognizability of traditional and agricultural villages and neighborhoods contrasts with the burgeoning town near the sea with its low accessibility and lack of economic generators. As the tradition of ceramic and sedge mattress is slowly fading with very few households left for the craft, it is important that they are sandwiched between coastal tourism development and agricultural production, and become a place of connection between the two prominent areas along the Cai River. Learned from the case studies of economy and areas from Sweden and the Netherlands, a system for product and waste management that enhances product distribution and waste processing is necessary for the production market and defines different traditional values mixed with the modern tourism industry.

Therefore, we propose strategies to revitalize the traditional craft area with the concept of circular economy that not only enhances craft product distribution but also turns to reusing and recycling the residual materials from areas along the Cai River, contributing to the environment that is harmonized with the gifted greenery and the economic benefit of both river and coastal tourism. Following the strategies of ecosystem services provided and the economic enhancement cycle, the area in Ngoc Hoi and Lu Cam villages will become a place that nurtures innovations and recultivates the traditional craft, turning ceramic and sedge into modern useful products that serve contemporary needs. Not only does the new innovative neighborhood provide jobs for the community, but it also applies sustainable practices of urban biodiversity and flood mitigation.

The area aims to promote bicycle and walking through the positioning of condensed mixed-use offices and residential blocks that are within walking and biking distance in the area. This area provides ecological corridors for the residents and connects with the urban circular agricultural area on Ngoc Thao River Island that also aims to promote circular food strategies and water treatment around the island. In the neighborhood under San Mountain, the infrastructure that acts as a circular reuse center collects, recycles, and redistributes the products and continues the economic loop.

The area of Lu Cam and Ngoc Hoi serves as the place that closes the loop and complies with the natural, social, and economic cycles of the whole area along the Cai River. The area contains landscapes that mimic DNA strands and ceramic products.

description

1. Project Vision: A Living Urban River
The “(Re)Urban – Revitalizing the Riverfront City” project proposes a transformative reimagining of the Cái River as more than just a geographic feature. It is a cultural spine, a community hub, and a natural infrastructure that must be restored, preserved, and enhanced. By re-integrating the river into the heart of urban life, the project aims to make it a vital part of Nha Trang’s daily rhythms—supporting both tourism development and the wellbeing of local residents.

2. Urban Challenges: Disconnection, Decline, and Displacement
Decades of spontaneous, uncoordinated urbanization along the river have led to fragmented land use, environmental degradation, and social disconnection. Traditional craft villages, religious spaces, and communal areas have been eroded or isolated. The river, once a symbol of connection and continuity, now stands at the edge of urban life—visually present but functionally disconnected.

3. Design Principle: Patchwork Planning – Stitching the Old and the New
A central concept of the proposal is the application of a “patchwork planning” approach—a strategic method that preserves valuable existing structures while “perforating” them with new interventions. Instead of demolishing or replacing entire areas, this approach “keeps the old” where heritage, memory, and community value remain strong, and “makes holes”—literally and metaphorically—to insert new programs, infrastructures, and connections.
These “insertions” include pedestrian greenways, soft embankments, cultural spaces, and public amenities, which are carefully layered into the existing urban fabric. The result is a living system that grows organically—bridging past and present while leaving room for future adaptation.

4. Spatial Strategy: Integration of Nature, Culture, and Everyday Life
• Ecological Restoration: Implementing soft, adaptive embankments and rainwater landscapes to stabilize soil, reduce flooding, and support biodiversity.
• Cultural Regeneration: Reviving craft villages and sacred sites as anchors of memory within the evolving cityscape.
• Community-Led Insertion: Introducing small-scale, flexible interventions—pocket parks, floating platforms, or community gardens—within leftover spaces, unused lots, or informal settlements.
• Flexible Connectivity: Creating permeable paths and public corridors that link the river, mountains, and residential areas.

5. Conclusion: Weaving Together Memory and Innovation
By embracing the patchwork method, this project respects the layered complexity of the Cái River area. It refuses the tabula rasa approach, choosing instead to heal the urban fabric, stitch together what remains, and carefully introduce the new. The river is transformed into a connective, living infrastructure—where nature, memory, and modernity coexist. It becomes a space not only of flow and function, but of belonging, identity, and urban resilience.

Thank you for your attention and valuable time.
This project represents the collective effort of our team, developed through direct field observation, careful analysis, and a shared aspiration for the future of the Cái River in Nha Trang. We sincerely hope that our proposal will contribute to a vision where the river becomes greener, more vibrant, and more connected to everyday urban life.
We are deeply grateful for the opportunity to share our proposal with the esteemed jury and appreciate your consideration, insights, and support.

description

SYNTH TRANG proposes a transformative vision for Nha Trang as a unified and experiential destination—a place where nature, culture, mobility, and everyday life converge into a seamless whole. Rather than separating tourism functions into isolated zones, the project reimagines the city as a continuous landscape of experiences defined by connection, regeneration, and local identity.

At its core, the proposal reframes Nha Trang as "One Destination, All Experiences." It positions the city not just as a collection of attractions, but as an integrated system where visitors and residents share spaces, movement, and meaning.

The strategy is built on four key pillars:
1. Destination Power – Establishing Nha Trang as a singular and memorable destination through culturally resonant landmarks, iconic public spaces, and storytelling that highlights both tradition and transformation.
2. Experience System – Designing a journey that weaves together cultural and natural assets. The west side of the city focuses on heritage, community-based tourism, and urban vibrancy, while the east emphasizes nature-based experiences—beaches, islands, rivers, and mountains—linked through soft mobility and coherent spatial rhythms.
3. Regenerative Urbanism – Breathing new life into underused and fragmented areas of the city. A key feature is the conversion of the old railway corridor into a dynamic mobility and public space spine, serving as a new multimodal transport hub and central node of connection.
4. Ecological Framework – Restoring and enhancing the city’s ecological base through wetland protection, urban greening, green-blue corridors, and distributed pocket parks. These systems support climate resilience, biodiversity, and quality of life for both residents and visitors.

Key features include:
• A central transport hub that unifies land, water, and tourism mobility networks across the city and nearby destinations.
• A flexible spatial structure that organizes the city into experiential zones without rigid boundaries, allowing adaptability and evolution.
• Scalable public spaces that respond to different urban conditions, fostering inclusion, identity, and environmental care.

Rather than focusing on a single object or signature building, SYNTH TRANG offers a new way of thinking about the city—as a composition of relationships, rhythms, and experiences. It invites Nha Trang to evolve as a shared platform for exploration, regeneration, and connection—by locals and for the world.