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Resonating Vietnamese living cultures
The spatial arrangement of the blocks affords semi-public courtyards spaces with wide access hallways and blurred public-private thresholds. All façades are animated by a composition of fenestration and/or balconies. These ample spaces stimulate social interaction and were explicitly designed to accommodate different activities.
Reclaiming a degraded canal-front - The up-graded canal provides an attractive front for the new housing blocks and the market.
Sheltering informal economies - The large roof of the hawkers’ market simply and cost-effectively accommodates local trade activity.
The canal as a backbone for new development
The urban design sought to maximize accessibility and views to the canal and therefore arranged the apartment blocks perpendicular to the water. The seven buildings alternate with strips of public space and the canal-front was animated with shop-house typologies and a hawkers market (left). After the first phase of the project was built and the financial cooperation with Belgium expired, the local authorities decided to revert back to their more conservative and cookie-cutter new housing towers – arguing that a higher density was required on such a strategically located site.
Opportunities for in situ relocation
Once hosting an agricultural factory, the site of the new apartment project aligns the canal. By using one of the remaining large plots of land within the inner city, the project has shown that in situ relocation is possible.
Pilot project sites
The 7 km-long Tan Hoa - Lo Gom canal basin is adjacent to Cholon. The aerated lagoon and the sites-and-services area are located on the Den Canal, in the rural Bin Than District. The new housing construction, slum upgrading project and a small transfer station (for solid waste) are in District 6.
TAN HOA LO GOM: Canal Upgrading & Resettlement Housing (1998-06)
Location: HCMC, Vietnam
Designers: Vietnamese-Belgian bilateral development project, managed by the Project Management Unit (PMU) 415 Kelly Shannon, Benoit Legrand, Paul Verlé, BTC (Belgian Technical Cooperation)
Commissioned by: Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee
Period of design: 1998 - 2006
VIETNAM
Environmental Challenges in Ho Chi Minh City’s Water Network
Over the last 300 years, Ho Chi Minh City has become Vietnam’s ever-expanding mega-city. In the process, its water network has become severely compromised. Many water bodies have been filled and canals are clogged with refuse, heavily polluted by untreated domestic and industrial waste, and encroached by squatter settlements.
Amongst the consequences has been an increase in the severity of city flooding, adverse health risks, and the decrease of transportation via waterways (as their navigability has been drastically reduced).
Vietnamese-Belgian Bilateral Development Project
A Vietnamese-Belgian bilateral development project (1998-2006) had the ambitious objective to provide an alternative solution to business-as-usual and focused on a series of linked strategic urban projects that stemmed from the upgrading of one of the city’s most polluted canals – the western Tan Hoa Lo Gom (THLG).
The THLG Sanitation and Urban Upgrading Project, managed by the Project Management Unit (PMU) 415, implemented three pilot projects in HCMC’s ward 11 of district 6 and another two in the rural Binh Tan District. The project widened and embanked a portion of the canal and in the process 180 families were given the choice to be relocated to new, on-site, mid-rise apartment blocks (inclusive of a hawkers’ market and community hall) or to move to a sites-and-services project in Binh Tan.
Social and Environmental Upgrading Initiatives
The first site also included a slum upgrading project for the households adjacent to the canal and the apartment site; drainage and sewerage improvement was a priority. Social workers were also active in the process and assisted to obtain legal status for their homes and as citizens in HCMC.
The project on the second site improved and built upon a pre-existing informal settlement and included new social services such as a school. The project tackled these problems by upgrading the canal and reconfiguring its surroundings in relation to the reinforced water-spine. A portion of the THLG was widened and embanked, while households encroached along the canal were relocated.
Urban Design and Waterway Reintegration
The urban design of the mid-rise apartment buildings maximized the views and access to the canal. Blocks were arranged perpendicular to the water, serving as an attractive front-side for these dwellings as well as for the hawkers’ market.
A series of public and semi-public spaces provides opportunities for social and informal activities and links the canal to the inner courtyards of the housing blocks. The re-integration of the waterway into the urban fabric was further enhanced by the introduction of an on-site boat stop. As such, the revitalized area positions itself as an important node along the once again navigable THLG canal.