The newly planned Central Park in Ho Chi Minh City is planned to be built in 2020 in a collaborative partnership between ASPECT Studio and LAVA. It begins by rebuilding the old 19th century railway tracks, and turn them into a modern day metro station, and in doing so, create a beautiful park as a result.

In its effort to modernize and bring it into the 21st century, it rejects a rigid grid structure, and instead emphasizes organic curves and smooth shapes, contrasting against the rest of the straight, rigid city buildings. The railways are integrated into the plan, and have elevated pedestrian walkways above them, creating natural social spaces, providing performance and play spaces for things like outdoor galleries, theater performance pavilions, skate parks, sports zones, playgrounds, and other open areas that would be otherwise difficult to find in a busy city. The continuous connectedness of the design also emphasizes that as a metro, it is a place of transportation to connect people to their various destinations, both in and out of the park. The translucent building material also helps give it the modern look, and the glowing lights that light up at night make it a star feature of the city, as well as helping it blend into the city nightlife. Additionally, bringing it up to par with modern environmental concerns, alongside actual natural greenery, artificial “water purification trees” recycle rainwater for watering, drinking fountains, and fire hydrants and similarly designed “solar trees” will be used to store power for info screens, charging docks, and wifi routers.

In essence, the project’s social function is twofold – it serves as a modern center of transportation so that people in the city may get to wherever they need to go, but also to provide a social space where people may relax and enjoy a public show or event, play with their children on a playground, enjoy a pleasant walk through nature, or do whatever they please in an informal, “urban oasis” that would be otherwise unattainable in a busy city life.

Source: https://www.archdaily.com/922558/lava-plus-aspect-design-the-central-park-of-ho-chi-minh-city