HKUST Medical Education and Research Complex

Clearwater Bay, Hong Kong

In November 2025, HKUST was selected by the HKSAR Government through a rigorous government process to establish Hong Kong’s third medical school, underscoring a significant institutional milestone and advancing the city’s ambition to become a global centre for science, technology, medical research, and innovation. The new Medical Education and Research Complex represents the first dedicated facility for the discipline on campus, providing an important physical and symbolic foundation for the university’s emerging medical programme.

Strategically located in the southern portion of the campus, the building assumes a prominent role within HKUST’s broader master plan as both an academic anchor and a gateway. In dialogue with the adjacent Shaw Auditorium, it helps to define a central public plaza that connects major pedestrian routes and creates a civic focus for campus life. Its geometric form compliments the sweeping curves of the Shaw Auditorium, creating a vortex-shaped landscaped plaza, attracting pedestrians intuitively, thereby reinforcing a coherent architectural setting for the plaza.

The building is conceived as an integrated academic hub that brings together teaching, research, and community functions within a clear and efficient spatial framework. A three-storey podium accommodates the auditorium, library, cafeteria, classrooms, and presentation spaces, while the five-storey tower above provides laboratories, faculty offices, and teaching facilities. Large atria, visible circulation, and interconnected communal spaces promote transparency, interaction, and inter-disciplinary exchanges, while the grand steps and landscaped terraces extend opportunities for learning, gathering, and engagement beyond the formal classroom environment.

Architecturally, the project is expressed as a pristine glass cube that conveys openness, precision, and innovation. Its high-performance façade of low-emissivity glazing maximizes daylight, enhances energy efficiency, and supports occupant comfort. Designed with long-term adaptability, the facility supports HKUST’s medical programme in its current phase while maintaining the flexibility to accommodate future academic uses as the School advances toward its planned permanent campus in the Northern Metropolis.

In the HKUST Medical Education and Research Complex, we will deliver a state-of- the-art facility for the newest medical school in China and Southeast Asia, and demonstrate that the sharpest technological advancement can indeed co-exist beautifully with the most humane environment nurturing the next generation of medical professionals.