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with the Soviet Union resulted in
many engineers and architects being
sent to Russia to learn their trade,”
explains Nguyen Huu Hiep, chairman
of the PAC architecture consultancy
firm. “Meanwhile, Soviet architecture
became the dominant form of building
in Vietnam.”
MyDinh
Shrugging off the past and fast-
forwarding to the future, you head
to My Dinh further west of the city.
This district — with constantly drilling
jackhammers, buildings under bamboo
scaffolding and cranes piercing the
skyline — morphs into a sprawling
construction site or, some would say,
a dustbowl. Looking beyond the dusty
façade, My Dinh heralds the start of
what will be the shiny New Vietnam.
What was once only known for the
National Stadium and the National
Convention Centre has become a
tomorrow-land of gleaming tower
buildings, deserted mega-malls and
upmarket apartment blocks jutting up
from what was once a green carpet of
rice paddy fields and farmland.
It’s only a matter of time before My
(
Left) Giang Vo
Street is an enclave
for Soviet-inspired
collective housing;
(
below) in My Dinh,
the only way is up
H I S T O R I C A L H A N O I
