Location: Hoa Lư, Ninh Bình
Client: Phuc Loc Real Estate Corporation JSC
Context
Located at the northern gateway of Hoa Lư–a UNESCO-recognized heritage landscape–this residential development sits at the confluence of Vietnam’s most significant cultural sites: the Ancient Capital of Hoa Lư, Tràng An, and Bái Đính. The project brief was precise: design a high-quality living environment for the Police Officers, while preserving the continuity of the surrounding heritage zone.
Vision
The design is guided by the concept of “Living Confluence” as the spatial vision. A central lake connects three precincts (Community, Recreation, Culture) while over 10,000 m² of water surface and 9,600 m² of green space form the structural backbone of the masterplan.
Strategy
The project’s defining element is a 30-storey tower at the northern entrance to Hoa Lư. Its stepped form and open vertical gaps, designed to maximize natural light and airflow while also giving the building a silhouette that echoes the limestone peaks of the surrounding landscape.
The façade carries this reference further: a pattern that grows gradually from base to crown, combined with integrated vertical greenery, traces the transition from the region’s traditional character to a contemporary architectural language–a design inspired by the distinctive surrounding topography.
The project brings together high-rise and mid-rise social housing alongside low-rise market-rate units, planned as a single, coherent neighbourhood rather than isolated blocks. This mixed typology serves both the community and the project’s long-term viability: social housing fulfils the public mandate, while market-rate units sustain the investment. Nearly 2,700 apartments follow a modular layout with flexible “+1” spaces, designed to adapt to different household sizes and ways of living. This practical approach also benefits both residents and the investor’s delivery timeline for long-term viability.
Social housing is too often treated as a purely functional exercise. The Housing for the Police Officers project argues otherwise: design quality is not a premium, but a baseline. For enCity, that distinction is the point: it makes the case that design quality in social housing projects is not an exception, but a standard worth pursuing.
VI