Rounded edges modernism and architectural dialogue in ho chi minh city

Focusing on an unusually large number of modernist buildings with curved corners concentrated in the city’s historic center, this essay argues that such buildings have provided, and cont

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Paradoxical Southeast Asia

Rounded Edges: Modernism and Architectural Dialogue in Ho Chi Minh City

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Rounded Edges: Modernism and

Architectural Dialogue in Ho Chi

Minh City

H Hazel Hahn

1 Ho Chi Minh City possesses layers of striking architecture in diverse international styles

ranging from the mid-nineteenth to the twenty-first century French and European styles

adopted under the colonial regime (1859–1954), Art Deco from the 1920s, international

modernism from the 1920s through the 1970s, and global postmodernist styles practiced

in the last several decades have all made their marks Modernist architecture of Ho Chi

Minh City has received little scholarly attention until recently and is in dire, critical need

of due recognition as well as preservation and protection.1 In contrast to Hanoi, whose

historic center has a cohesive architectural style as it still possesses a large number of

colonial-era buildings in European styles—a result of the dearth of new construction in

the center over half a century from 1945 until around 1995—Ho Chi Minh City’s

architecture is seen as eclectic at best and as lacking any critical mass of buildings in a

cohesive, homogeneous style This is not only because of the disappearance of a large

number of colonial-era French-style villas in recent decades, but also, significantly,

because the city has been influenced by a succession of international styles, including

French, American, and so on, leaving it with a patchwork of styles While an effort to

preserve Hanoi’s colonial-era architecture has been gaining some traction, significant

efforts to protect Ho Chi Minh City’s architectural heritage have only recently begun,

mainly through a grassroots movement by the public

2 Much of the striking architecture of Ho Chi Minh City, unfortunately, has been fast

disappearing in the last two decades Among the destroyed, defaced, or otherwise

significantly altered structures are a large number of modernist buildings The lack of

scholarly attention does not mean that modernist-style buildings have not been widely

admired by residents and visitors alike This essay seeks to establish Ho Chi Minh City’s

architectural heritage as a significant one by advancing a unique argument: that in

contrast to prevailing views, Ho Chi Minh City does actually possess a critical mass of

cohesive, remarkably well-designed buildings in modernist styles In particular, this essay

highlights what I see as a unique feature of the modernist buildings of Ho Chi Minh City:

rounded, curved corners Focusing on an unusually large number of modernist buildings

with curved corners concentrated in the city’s historic center, this essay argues that such

buildings have provided, and continue to provide, long stretches of blocks of central Ho

Chi Minh City with highly unique, cohesive, strikingly elegant, and graceful

characteristics These buildings, dating from the 1920s through the 1970s, not only are

great examples of modernist architecture in general, but also constitute the single most

unique and salient characteristic of the architecture of the city Mel Schenck notes that

Vietnamese architects and historians regard the 1940s through the 1970s as the golden

age of modernist architecture in Vietnam In this period, marked by a population

explosion from 1.7 million in 1954 to 4 million in 1975,2 many of the most significant

modernist buildings were constructed The sheer number of modernist buildings built

during this period, constituting up to 60% of numerous blocks of the city, also makes this

a golden age.3 At the same time, earlier modernist examples from the 1920s through

1930s, found especially on Dong Khoi Street, comprise a unique set of buildings, as do

modernist buildings dating from the 1940s through the 1970s For these two reasons—

great architecture and the unique ensemble the buildings constitute—in addition to

reasons of safeguarding cultural and historical memory and heritage, it is imperative that

they be preserved and protected

3 This essay, moreover, seeks to re-locate the place of Ho Chi Minh City on the world map

of the circulation of modernism by emphasizing the internal dynamic of the city’s

architectural evolution, which transcends the colonial-postcolonial divide This, in turn,

disrupts the well-entrenched periodization of Vietnamese history: not only the

colonial-postcolonial divide but also the periodization of the historical narrative of political events

such as colonization, the rise of communism, revolution, independence, and the Vietnam

War Rather, this essay emphasizes the evolution of forms that reveal a distinct

continuity in spite of major event-based ruptures in history Scholarly discussion of

architecture in colonial and postcolonial Vietnam have invariably followed an

event-based periodization In the pioneering survey of the architecture of Ho Chi Minh City,

Saigon 1698–1998: Kiê ́n trúc/Architectures, Quy hoạch/Urbanisme (1998), Vũ Hùng Việt divides

the architecture of the city into three main styles—“national traditional style,”

“Indochinese colonial style,” and “contemporary style that appeared since the 1960s”—

and adds that with numerous new constructions in the city, the architecture of the city

has been “considerably diversified and enriched.”4 A similar periodization is offered by

Trương Ngọc Lân in a recent article on modernist architecture in Vietnam: the colonial

period, the First-Indochinese-War period (1945–1954), the period of partition (1954–1975),

the postwar period (1975–1986), and the “Doi Moi” (Renovation) period.5 Such

periodizations make sense insofar as a chronological understanding of architectural

history is necessary to grasp a much-needed overview with historical contexts At the

same time, such practices can obscure patterns that transcend event-based divisions in

architectural history

4 One such pattern has to do with the question of who built and designed what in which

style While monumental buildings during the colonial period were designed primarily by

Frenchmen, beginning in the 1920s numerous colonial-style villas were built by wealthy

Vietnamese and ethnic Chinese And the majority of modernist buildings from both the

colonial and postcolonial periods were designed by Vietnamese architects, such as Ngô

Viết Thụ who designed the Reunification Palace (completed 1966) and Trương Văn Long

who designed the University of Architecture (completed 1972) Designs of recent notable

skyscrapers, on the other hand, have been commissioned mainly from foreign architects

This pattern shows that Vietnamese architects and property owners were pivotal across

the colonial-postcolonial divide in creating architectural forms with recurring features

through various metamorphoses of forms Re-evaluated here are assumptions underlying

ideas regarding the significance of Asian cities that favor the maintenance of historical

centers—such as Hanoi’s—while overlooking patterns of dynamic architectural evolution

as exemplified in Ho Chi Minh City

5 In discussing Modernist styles well known to be truly global, what is emphasized here is

circulation, and in particular regional circulation, rather than notions of influence from

the “West” that still predominate Curved corners recurring in Art Deco, Streamline

Moderne, Bauhaus, and other Modernist styles can be seen in cities as varied as San

Francisco (the Maritime Museum, 1936); Los Angeles (the Coca-Cola Bottling Plant, 1939);

San Juan, Puerto Rico (The Normandie Hotel inspired by the ship S S Normandie, 1942);

London (the Daily Express building, 1932); Paris (certain of Le Corbusier’s buildings);

Grenoble (the cours Jean Jaurès)6; Tel Aviv (on the UNESCO World Heritage list for its

Bauhaus architecture); Shanghai (the Normandie apartment building, 1924); Singapore

(Streamline Moderne buildings in Tiong Bahru district)7; Mumbai (the Empress Court

building, 1938); Napier, New Zealand (on the UNESCO World Heritage list for its Art Deco

architecture); and numerous others.8

6 However, it is easy to notice distinct and recurring local and regional features The

significant presence of modernist buildings with curved corners in Phnom Penh, the

closest major city to Ho Chi Minh City which was also a part of the French Union of

Indochina until 1953, as well as similarities in forms between the modernist buildings of

the two cities, suggests that regional circulation played a crucial role In the end, what

makes the phenomenon of Ho Chi Minh City truly unique is the combination of volume

and longevity through mutation of forms: the concentration of a large number of

buildings with curved corners in various styles in a relatively compact area, throughout a

relatively long period (even compared to Phnom Penh, where such buildings were built

mostly from the 1950s and 1960s) This phenomenon differs from, for example, the

concentration of Bauhaus architecture in Tel Aviv dating mostly from the 1930s through

the 1950s, in one style.9 Furthermore, the major portion of modernist residential

buildings with curves are large houses located in well-to-do suburban neighborhoods and

thus are not part of densely populated urban areas.10

7 Unlike Hanoi, a city boasting a millennial history, Ho Chi Minh City traces its origins to

the seventeenth century and developed into a major city during the colonial period From

the 1860s, following French conquest, colonial Saigon evolved into a European-looking

city.11 The French razed the late eighteenth-century Vauban-style fort built by French

engineers and opened Saigon as a port.12 Gradually, Saigon became a city with a

Haussmann-style layout with wide boulevards.13 At the same time, Cholon, the mostly

ethnic Chinese commercial town and port adjacent to Saigon, was to remain a “native”

city Throughout the colonial period Cholon, which merged with Saigon in the late 1930s,

was the dynamic economic center where industrial activities such as rice processing took

place Cholon, which today comprises the western section of district 5 as well as sections

of districts 6 and 11, possesses a unique set of architecturally significant buildings but is,

like central Ho Chi Minh City, rapidly undergoing redevelopment

Rounded Corners on Dong Khoi Street

8 Dong Khoi Street (Total Revolution Street), comprising eight blocks, is today the most

animated street in Ho Chi Minh City and a magnet for tourism, as it was during the

colonial period It was called Catinat Street during the colonial period and Tu Do Street

(Freedom Street) from the 1950s until 1975 Along this street are numerous buildings

dating mostly from the 1920s through the 1950s in Art Deco, Streamline Moderne, and

modern styles with curved corners After falling into decay during the war years, this

street has undergone a revival since the 1990s However, this success has also attracted

real-estate development and redevelopment Some of the modernist buildings, including

iconic ones, have been demolished in recent years, but enough still remain to single out

Dong Khoi Street as uniquely representative of early twentieth-century modernism with

an emphasis on curved corners, for which few equivalents can be found in the world The

Catinat building (1927) (fig 1), located at the corner of Dong Khoi and Ly Tu Trong

streets, is the last remaining apartment block on Dong Khoi Street.14 A grand 1920s

modernist building with Art Deco features, it has a wide curved corner along all five

floors A variety of Art Deco metal railings decorate many of its balconies, and there are

scalloped features along the roofline The thin columns on the top floor resemble those of

many other buildings of the city dating from the 1920s and later The building, which

once housed the US consulate, is currently slated to be redeveloped along with other

buildings in the same block, and therefore its future is uncertain.15 Its central location at

the very heart of the city makes this building particularly vulnerable to redevelopment

Yet this is one of the prime examples of a grand, early twentieth-century building that is

characteristic of the singularity of Dong Khoi Street and Ho Chi Minh City more broadly

Figure 1: Catinat Building, 26 Ly Tu Trong, 2015.

Source: Author΄s picture.

9 A block south from the Catinat Building was a magnificent seven-story Art Deco building

at 213 Dong Khoi Street that was the most prestigious apartment building on Dong Khoi

Street Completed in 1930 by the Société d’exploitation des établissements Brossard et

Mopin, it once housed the consulates of Austria, Portugal, and Spain and the tourism

bureau Office de Propagande de l’Indochine, as well as numerous prestigious fashion

boutiques.16 The building was mentioned in Graham Greene’s The Quiet American.17 The

building was demolished in 2014 to make way for a new administrative building One of

the characteristics that made this building so striking was an elegant rounded corner at

the intersection of Dong Khoi and Le Thanh Ton streets, divided into three vertical

sections and decorated with Art Deco motifs

10 A nearby building, the famous Eden building, a modernist structure built around 1947

with a similarly rich history, was demolished in 2010 to make way for the luxury

shopping mall Vincom Center A which opened in October 2012.18 The Eden featured a

curved corner all along its six-story façade The building’s location, with four façades on

the main streets of Le Loi, Dong Khoi, Le Thanh Ton and Nguyen Hue, neighboring the

People’s Committee building (originally built as the City Hall of colonial Saigon from 1902

to 1908), the Hotel Continental (opened in 1880), and the Municipal Theater (also known

as the Opera House, opened in 1900), was one of the most desirable in the entire city The

Eden was the media center during the Vietnam War that housed numerous news bureaus

and journalists.19 The building hid in its interior the Eden arcade and one of the two most

beautiful colonial-era cinemas, the Eden Cinema, which initially attracted a mainly

European audience in the 1920s before it was quickly outnumbered by the indigenous

population.20

11 At the end of this section of Dong Khoi Street, at the intersection with Dong Du Street, is a

four-story modernist building (fig 2) at 80 Dong Khoi While the first two floors were

recently renovated, the top floor’s original façade is still preserved Its strong horizontal

lines, including a projecting horizontal band along the top portion of the building, a wide

rounded corner, and small circular windows recalling the nautical themes of Streamline

Moderne, show similarities to the nearby Rex Hotel discussed below Small minimalist

slits with green bands around them, echoing the green horizontal bands above them and

the green color of the frame of the circular windows, add to the whimsical charm of the

building

Figure 2: 80 Dong Khoi Street, 2015.

Source: Author΄s picture.

12 At Dong Khoi and Mac Thi Buoi Streets stands a three-story building with a rounded

corner, with green metalwork on all three floors The third floor is particularly notable

for windows with four vertical panes and Art Nouveau green metalwork, as well as the

sculpted façade On the second floor are green Art Nouveau-style balcony railings Also at

this intersection is a worn but striking four-story modernist building at 91 Dong Khoi also

with a curved corner The building showcases clean horizontal bands and thin vertical

pillars characteristic of many modernist buildings of Ho Chi Minh City

13 A block further south on Dong Khoi Street, the Grand Hotel (fig 3) (formerly Saigon

Palace Hotel), built around 1927–1928 and restored in 1997, features another curved

corner.21 The Grand Hotel is one of the iconic early twentieth-century hotels of the city

On the curved corner are elaborate stone balconies supported by flamboyant brackets

These, along with the dome at the top, accentuate the tower-like appearance of the

curved corner.22 Projected balconies on the rest of the exterior of the building with

brackets, thin columns, and turrets, along with the tower-like corner, collectively create

something of a throwback fantasy-like appearance However, the tall thin windows and

harmonious proportions of the building make its overall design a very successful one that

is suited to the street

Figure 3: Grand Hotel, 8 Dong Khoi street, 2015.

Source: Author΄s picture.

14 All four buildings at this intersection of Dong Khoi and Ngo Duc Ke streets have curved

corners Kitty corner from the Grand Hotel is a building with rounded corners and

verandas with Art Nouveau metal railings, housing the new Workshop café and other

businesses Another building at this intersection is a very large five-story modernist

building (fig 4) with rounded corners This building (with a “Seaprodex” sign on the

roof) is, as of December 2016, undergoing a massive interior renovation that seems to be

preserving most of its original façade on the upper floors This is a striking building with

well-proportioned vertical and horizontal lines and a projecting solid concrete roofline

with double brackets

Figure 4: “Seaprodex” building, Dong Khoi and Ngo Duc Ke Streets, 2016.

Source: Author΄s picture.

15 At the southern end of this block, forming the end of Dong Khoi Street and facing the

Saigon River, is a five-story building (fig 5) in a striking modernist style, with strong

linear horizontal lines emphasized by projected horizontal sections and numerous

well-proportioned windows The design of this building, with projected horizontal bands all

along the façade, and decorative concrete double brackets, is very similar to the design of

the “Seaprodex” building

Figure 5: 2-4-6 Dong Khoi Street, 2015.

Source: Author΄s picture.

16 Finally, across the street facing the Saigon River is the Majestic Hotel (fig 6), designed in

France and built in 1925 for the local Chinese entrepreneur Hui Bon Hoa.23 With

forty-four rooms, it was the most luxurious hotel upon opening The original façade was

elaborate and flamboyant, with Art Nouveau elements and brackets similar to the ones on

the Grand Hotel It is clear that the latter’s design was inspired by that of this hotel The

façade was completely renovated when Mathieu Franchini, owner of the Continental

Hotel, became its director in 1951.24 After 1965, when state-owned Saigontourist took it

over, two more floors were added after a design by Ngô Viết Thụ By then the façade of

the hotel was completely different from the original one, which featured simple, clean

modernist lines.25 It fell into decay during the war and in 1995 underwent another major

renovation costing 5 million dollars.26 This latest renovation harks back to the original

design, with Art Nouveau décor such as elaborate gilded metalwork on arched windows

and the entrance on the ground floor Through its successive metamorphoses, a wide

curved corner was maintained In 2011 two new towers with 353 rooms were added.27

Figure 6: Hotel Majestic, 1 Dong Khoi Street, 2015.

Source: Author΄s picture.

17 This brief survey of Dong Khoi Street shows that along most of the eight blocks of Dong

Khoi Street are Art Nouveau, Art Deco, and modernist buildings with curved corners,

mostly dating from the 1920s through the 1950s These buildings form a singular group

That so many exist on the same street, in a relatively compact area, in diverse styles,

makes this a unique phenomenon compared to any other city in the world What makes

this group of buildings all the more unique is that every one of them has a curved corner

not just on the ground floor, but through all the floors This is a characteristic that goes a

long way toward defining not only the overall aesthetic characteristic of the street, but

also its ambience and, if you will, its personality The repeated rhythm of this feature on

block after block along all floors provides a cohesiveness This characteristic would be

meaningless if it were not done well, but on this street, all the curved buildings from the

1920s through the 1950s in particular boast excellent designs that harmonize with one

another They are integrated into the broader area both functionally—in the use of the

ground-floor spaces for commercial purposes and in their similar height, which ensures

that none blocks light from another—and aesthetically through well-proportioned and

interesting designs The potent effects of this group of buildings also show that when one

or more of this group is lost—through demolition or renovation that drastically alters its

appearance—they are really not replaceable The cohesiveness generated from a

particular period cannot be fully maintained through replacements that resemble the

original

18 This brings up the question of the origins of such curved corners dating back to colonial

Saigon The origins could potentially be traced developers and builders seeking to

maximize available land space, given construction regulations in relation to sidewalk

space I would argue, however, that the initial causes having to do with urban regulations

and the wish to best utilize available urban spaces, while of historical interest, are of

limited importance For one, the wish to maximize available space does not explain why,

beyond the ground floor, the upper floors were also designed with curves Much more

significant is the influence of the architectural trend of creating curved corners; how

architects, building owners, construction workers, and the public at large were and

continue to be influenced by existing buildings; and the cohesive appearance of streets

The skill sets learned in designing and constructing rounded corners by those involved,

including construction workers, would also have been transferred from one building to

another Otherwise, the lack of similar trends in other cities and towns with similar

regulations—precisely what makes Ho Chi Minh City’s architecture unique—cannot be

explained This is in no way an unusual argument, since in most towns and cities

throughout history a cohesive or semi-cohesive architectural style emerged and

developed as a result of a combination of taste and regulation, including sumptuary laws

19 Dong Khoi Street not only still manages to possess the architectural diversity typical of

Ho Chi Minh City, it also stands out with a number of Art Nouveau, Art Deco, and

modernist gems with curved corners However, sweeping urban development has

resulted in the demolition of significant buildings and continues to endanger the

architectural heritage of this iconic street At stake is whether this street can preserve its

singular architectural heritage that is so appealing to residents and visitors alike, or

whether it will turn into a generic, bland modern street unfortunately so characteristic of

numerous contemporary Asian cities

Rounded Corners in Other Areas of Ho Chi Minh City

20 Curves are prominent features of numerous other modernist buildings not only in streets

near Dong Khoi Street but also further away As on Dong Khoi Street, these buildings date

from the 1920s onwards They were built for diverse purposes, ranging from commercial

to residential and from administrative to medical One such building was the Saigon Tax

Trade Center, built originally in 1924 as the Charner Department Store on Nguyen Hue

Boulevard, one block west of Dong Khoi Street The building was demolished in 2016 as

part of the redevelopment of the Nguyen Hue Boulevard for the construction of a new

subway plus a sizable public plaza and park with a large statue of Ho Chi Minh.28 The Tax

Trade Center, in spite of the drastic changes to its façade, had maintained a prominent

curved corner along all five floors Its interior maintained “wrought-iron balustrades, an

intricately tiled floor and grand staircase, and other original design features.”29 A rare

Moroccan mosaic staircase inside the building has been preserved.30

21 Two prominent, related buildings in Art Deco and neoclassical styles dating from the

1920s also showcase rounded corners The Banque de l’Indochine building (fig 7), now

the State Bank, was designed by Félix Dumail and opened in 1928 at the juncture of the

Saigon River at Yersin Street and Benh Nghe Creek and near the 1882 Rainbow Bridge

designed by Gustave Eiffel.31 A massive, imposing structure with numerous columns, its

graceful rounded corner, in addition to subtle Khmer naga motifs, breaks up the

monolithic quality Along the rounded section, the progressively decreasing floor heights,

from the second floor to the fifth and top floor, also attenuate the heaviness of the

design While the juxtaposition of curves and straight lines on the fourth floor produces

Art Deco effects, the proportionally thin columns on the top floor provide a whimsical

element

Figure 7: State Bank of Vietnam, Yersin Street, 2015.

Source: Author΄s picture.

22 Three blocks away, the Mekong Housing Bank building (fig 8) at 32 Ham Nghi dates from

the same period and is in a very similar but more modest style Its curved section was

built in the gray stone also used for the State Bank It also features elaborate green

metalwork on doors and windows all along the ground floor Like the State Bank it also

has progressively decreasing heights on upper floors and thin columns along the curved

section of the top, fourth, floor, which contrast with the grandeur of the lower section of

the building

Figure 8: Mekong Housing Bank building, 32 Ham Nghi Street, 2015.

Source: Author΄s picture.

23 The Comptoir Nguyễn-Văn-Hảo Sạgonnais flatiron building (fig 9), located at the

intersection of Ky Con, Yersin and Tran Hung Dao Streets, dates from 1934 The building’s

flatiron shape, with a wide curve featuring arched windows and columns, is unique in the

city At the same time, tall and narrow louvered windows and horizontal decorative lines

show the affinity of this building’s design with broader modernist styles within the city

The projected curved band between the second and third floors is a forerunner of the

projected curved roof of the Rex Hotel This building housed the offices and residence of

the family of Nguyễn Văn Hảo, who owned the Grande Pharmacie Nguyễn Văn Hảo.32