Top 10 Award! Founder’s Vision Shows Why
NDA Group has been recognised as a Top 10 Planning Firm in Asia, by Asia Business Outlook!
Asia Business Outlook looks at commerce through the Asian lens, giving readers insights into the myriad intricacies that make up this vast continent.
This award recognises us for an extraordinary vision that has created global landmarks like Anhui TV Centre, China’s longest building, and crafted new ways of living like at Long Tan Urban Tourism Area in Vietnam.
Emmanuel Delarue
NDA Group Founder & CEO
In light of this nomination, our founder and CEO, Emmanuel Delarue, shares his vision on how NDA Group has been creating a better future for People & Place ever since its inception in France over 30 years ago:
Power of Creativity
Shenyang Media Centre is the physical embodiment of Chinese Northeastern Creativity ©NDA Group
My guiding light as an architect has always been to enrich and uplift the human experience. As NDA Group has grown, this sense of wanting to make society better has manifested itself through the Power of Creativity, which we use as our approach to unlock the heart and soul of places.
We conduct a deep and thorough exploration that goes far beyond design to uncover the nuances of a destination, leveraging its cultural and natural assets. The Power of Creativity is a trademark that differentiates NDA from other design firms.
Authentic Sustainability
Xiaomeisha Beach Park combines water, beach, and mountains into one sublime eco experience ©NDA Group
Our focus on sustainability looks at the entire value chain. That means closely examining materials and how they’re sourced, energy use at projects, long term usage of projects, and finally, energy recycling.
Ba Hang Lake Ecological and Amusement Tourism is a discovery of the identity of Vietnam’s Na Ham region ©NDA Group
Particularly in Asia where growth has been at breakneck speed, we have seen an urgency to build with little consideration for the long term.
Though all cities age those badly planned and cheaply built cost more in the long term, with wide ranging negative impacts like high maintenance costs, frequent demolitions, and arguably a lack of civic identity.
The Transitional Phase of Asia’s Infrastructure Space
Long Tan’s planning creates a self-sustaining town that places residential and commercial space in nature’s embrace ©NDA Group
Asia is seeing rapid urbanisation where cities are created from scratch. Unlike in Europe where cities have already been defined, Asia and the Middle East presentthe opportunity to create new human experiences.
However, with this comes the responsibility to understand that how we plan today will impact people for generations to come.That means planning cities that have the flexibility to constantly adapt to context, policy, and different ways of life.
Integrating nature and development at Beihai Ocean Gate ©NDA Group
In my opinion that means applying to new cities the ‘green principles’ that have existed in old towns for centuries where design was for people first, not for cars.
I often look to how the planning of my country’s capital city, Paris, with its nooks and crannies facilitating creative collaboration, have made it into a world renowned city for culture and the arts.
Realising The NDA Vision
DIC Star Hotel in Vietnam ©NDA Group
The world is rapidly changing and requires holistic thinking and collective wisdom to create a better future.
That better future is being created by our team drawn from a breadth of industries and cultures, and through them, we create urban planning and architecture that allows societies and culture to thrive.
At NDA Group we are changing the world, and we invite you to read our other articles to see how we’re doing it – landmark by landmark, and city by city.