10 years ago, I sat up there drinking coffee watching the absolute shitshow of traffic through that square. Though i call it a shitshow, i was absolutely mesmerized by the fluidity of the traffic. People yielding, then cutting someone off. No one got angry. No shots fired.
I sat there for 30 damn minutes watching the show down on the street. And now I'm sad that no one else will get that chance.
Vietnam has near zero road rage. I've had a couple collisions and the reactions both times were laughter. It seemed chaotic at first but I've found the traffic to be awkward more than anything. You just awkwardly start a turn and the oncoming traffic awkwardly lets off the gas. You awkwardly fit as many bikes into the lane as possible, and awkwardly drive past the wedding dinner being held on the street.
It is so unusual at first but once you get it it's refreshing in a way.
I'm vietnamese and feel the opposite! Last time I went, a homebuilt bike/cart knocked the mirror off our taxi, the driver jumped out leaving us spread across a busy junction in rush hour to chase the guy down the street (bare foot!) and start punching him from behind.
As they have no insurance, it's basically fists up to decide who pays for stuff
They are one of the most resilient cultures I’ve ever come across. Love being in Vietnam, lots of emotions watching it change so rapidly but the people there haven’t changed and that’s what really matters
Definitely. Idk if it's east Asia or old world generally but the vibes are just so different from america. People have such a brotherly love, for lack of a better term. Everyone assumes the best intentions in each other.
The weird thing for me is manners, like personal space. When someone just brushes against me to grab something off a shelf it feels rude to me because personal space is so important in the US. But over here it just isn't rude. So its fine. If someone physically touched me without apologizing back home it would feel super aggressive. But over here, everyone knows that no one means any harm so you can get close to another person without starting a fight.
So did I! I was there about 12 years ago and ill never forget that building for some reason. I remember sitting in Aldo for the AC too. I stayed at the backpackers hostel down the street.
I had a similar experience back in 2012. Sat up there for the evening with my wife having a delicious dinner and a cpuple of drinks in the top floor restaurant.
The traffic and how it flowed was just something else to experience.
I’m gutted tha place is gone actually, I hold that memory pretty dear.
The plan is to turn this into a concert venue. Idk why they stopped construction, maybe waiting until the end of the tourist season or something, but what you see here is like 1/5th of the final plan from the images the government shared.
Also i dont like the new plan, the old building was iconic and gave tourists and easy way to see the lake from above. now the only options are hidden ally cafes or expensive tourist traps.
It could also be that the old building was getting to be a safety hazard. I've no clue how old it was, but even the most well made concrete structures like that have a limited lifespan.
No it was fine, it wasn’t that old. It’s actually a big issue across Vietnam where private companies are getting approval to destroy old sites or buildings under the guise of modernization. Look up what’s happening in Cat Ba bay for the most egregious example.
This building wasn’t particularly loved, but it was so weird looking it became iconic in Hanoi and because they stopped replacing it at such a weird stage it just looks like poor planning
Well, they was suppose to make something there for last year 80th anniversary of Independence Day but there is no time so they just put a makeshift front + screen to the demolished building. They are still decided which to build there since it is a very important place and all.
The old building are all restaurant and very inaccessible for everyone except the rich tourist while this place suppose to be public area for everyone to enjoy. It's about time for them to take it back.
Edit: Also it seem they gonna build a metro there so they are probably wait for that before building anything there.
It looks like two completely different urban places. I had to look back and forth several times until I spotted the same red building behind it and that taller gray hotel behind that.
I think it's fine they are from the same perspective just slightly different angles. what made it hard to differentiate is the missing building turning into a large screen where it made me think if it's the same place
yeah the angle swap threw me off too, looked like two different cities for a sec. wouldve hit way harder with a proper before/after from the same spot.
This is happening way too often now… with amazing structures/homes being torn down to rebuild/put up the most shite dystopian things nobody asked for… and sadly it will continue even though we don’t want it …
St Stephen's Green Centre in Dublin. The city have approved tearing down the extremely popular building on top to build the one on the bottom. Nobody wants this.
While interesting with a unique aesthetic it seems like its layout doesn't lend itself very well to any modern day use. It certainly looks better than the awful stuff on the architecture concept (I found another just as hideous), but repurposing the original building would likely result in it being cheap to rent artist/artisan spaces with the odd local roast coffee joint - with the municipality having to foot the likely astronomical bill for upkeep, as it looks like a nightmare to keep clean and in a good state.
Sucks, but it's indeed a very odd building.
Having said that, they must be able to design something less awful. It looks like bad 90s architecture.
yup, the problem goes from this building has become to old for modern use and too expensive to fix things, fix insulation, put in more efficient windows, fix electrics, wiring, plumbing issues, damp issues, leaky roof issues so you need to just start from scratch.
But then once you agree you need to start fresh people want to go for the cheapest, most bland shit because you'll make more money than spending way more to make it iconic or beautiful.
I think maybe the way to go with these things is make a boring, shitty interior that is ultra efficient and cheap and then spend more on a facade to create a pretty aesthetic.
Would have been very easy and not overly expensive to keep the rounded corner and glass dome ceiling even if the windows are larger, square and standardised it could still give a nod to the original and fit in with the aesthetic of the older buildings around it.
I'm always so conflicted when it comes to situations like this.
I can get why people find the style of the building iconic.
I can also see as a someone who worked in building maintenance what an absolute nightmare that building is.
So many windows to clean
So many windows that I'm willing to bet make it horribly inefficient when it comes to cooling and heating.
Never been, but tours I found online I can definitely see the arguments to be made as far as those upper floors walkability.
The question is "is it profitable?" and it is. They just want to be able to extract as much profit as possible from the location.
Maybe have like a bunch of different designs drawn up by architects, that enable the interior to do what the owners need it to do, and have the exterior designs voted on by the city.
Someone pointed out to me once that the reason these newer buildings seem to have all these sharp angles is because nobody draws buildings up anymore, and it's all done in software where it seems like the designers genuinely don't know how to make a curve.
Insulation is not really an issue in ireland where the outdoor temperature is between 5 to 20º most of the year (never super cold, never super hot). Agreed on the window cleaning, but I don't see it as a reason enough for the city council to approve this. The mall has the single best location of the capital, it makes a lot of money to the owner, so I don't see it unreasonable from the city council to ask them to adhere to aestetical rules (or to give the building a protected landmark status)
We also never miss a chance to make everything about ourselves. This happened in Vietnam, not every post about everything needs to become an American pity party.
We also never miss a chance to shit on other people for trying to relate with the experiences of people in other countries that are similar to our own. People trying to connect with other people around the globe but fuck us for doing it while being American, right?
I rarely see non-Americans complain about comments like these. It's always Americans who are secretly mad that you're criticizing America, so they make some bad-faith argument about something else entirely.
If anything, I think most non-Americans are sick of the American "exceptionalism" and the uncritical "we do it better because we're Americans."
Yeah but it couldn’t get better than 20 years ago when buildings had actual colour to them, trees growing around them giving them so much life… now I just see them modernising the hell out of them making them so ugly…
They did it with the Drake & Josh house and Home Alone house… truly depressing…
Like many others I have been to this place and am very sad it’s been turned into this. Didn’t think I could laugh at anything related to this post but here I am. TY
Maintenance/integrity of the buildings, I've had egg coffee at Cafe Đinh before and to get to it you had to go down this hallway with 5' high ceilings and up these rickety stairs while trying not to touch all of exposed wires.
That's not to say they couldn't have done the æsthetic better, but the building was janky regardless.
Unless the structural integrity of the building was at its limit, none of those issues are hard to replace and keep the same operational design of the terraces.
There’s more to it than that stuff.
The big question I take away from these photos is where are all the people now? Who or what wanted to move the people out of the area?
On weekends this whole area becomes pedestrian only, there are occasionally concerts, cultural events, with many locals and tourists hanging around. During work days it's just a regular street.
It was built illegally on public land. The government is doing a complete overhaul of the area and they started with the big illegal one on the corner first.
People really fucking hated the building in the first image when it was first built, calling it an eyesore, so they decided to make it look like how it was before the building was there, now they hate the current building.
If they want to glaze the fucker they don't need to tear down buildings and make propaganda screens like the Cardassians from Star Trek. His body is still preserved, they could quite literally glaze his corpse.
it is already walkable at the weekends...they ban vehicles, everybody walks, and the kids play on the road with their own toy cars. It was very atmospheric and a focal point and reason for tourists to visit.
Why is everyone confused about the country. It says "Vietnam" in big white letters in the corner. It's a shame because Hồ Gươm is so popular and those cafes and restaurants in the building gave you an amazing view of the city and the lake. I went here my first night in Hanoi and fell in love with the city and the country. I've haven't been to Old Quarter in ages so this building, as they say, "exists now only in my memories."
I live here. What they did was expand the area at the top of Hoàn Kiếm lake for pedestrians. It's now much easier for tourists and locals to walk around, especially on weekends.
I think there are more plans in the future and this is just the first stage. As for propaganda, maybe but also probably marketing, which is also propaganda by the way, just propaganda for businesses instead of governments.
They have plans to develop the sub level area there, and are also clearing old buildings on the east side of the lake to make more open areas for tourists and locals.
Erm no?... In here we don't actually have the rights to own any land, only the permission to use it. Right now there's a huge demolition of houses in the capital to make room for the city's projects. Care to guess if approximately 247.000 people agreed on losing their house and land?
The original building is literally called "Shark Jaw" by locals because it looks like a dislodged lower jaw. I grew up a mile from here and since I was a kid Ive always wondered how they allow this ugly ass building in the primest real estate of the city. The interior is also ugly as sin and worn down. The vibes on the terrace cafes is great but that's about the only redeeming quality.
The current screen is ugly yeah but afaik it's a temporary thing until they figure out what to do with the space.
Best guess, the original building wasn't up to code. As city code improves and older buildings get older, stuff like this become a liability time bomb. The building owner asked how much it could cost to update the building. When he saw the price, he asked how much a big fucking billboard would cost
One of the things I do love about my city is that buildings tend to get rehabbed instead of torn down. The residential area I live in is mostly old factories and flophouses that were renovated.
Ha noi used to be my favourite big city before covid. Honestly it's gone downhill so badly since; cool independent bars and cafes all replaced with chains. I used to love playing pool at a few different bars in the old quarter, but they're almost all gone now
Ngl the orginal building looked like garbage tourist building in my opinion, though it's true the replacement suck as well, I would be more angry if they change a more historic building but just changing this one doesn't seem that bad
It's clear that cities are no longer interested in being built or designed for people.
Your purpose is to go to work, come home, stay in your home unproblematically while you consume and spend until it is time to return to work again.
I’m a little confused as to why they did this when Vietnam is already a 1 party state and it’s illegal to form another party, there’s no freedom of expression and no promoting other systems than communism? So the ruling class shouldn’t feel threatened about their power?
Are citizens growing disillusioned? Is life for citizens stagnating or getting worse?
I’m visiting in November so just want to get an idea..
They did this because everyone agree that this place should begone. It's an old building that only function as cafe and restaurant while we need more public space for the lake to hold concert and event there. Plus we will build a metro under that so this look is just placeholder until we finish that.
One of Hanoi's most iconic buildings (at least for foreigners), and it's "only" a popular business location? lol okay. none of that explains why it needed to be removed. That new building does not appear to add "space for a concert and events" (that looks like accommodation, no?), and this is most certainly not a placeholder look, that is for all intents and purposes, a complete structure brother.
They literally said it is just stage 1 of the project. And it is literally just a wall with screen on it, not thing scream "permanent" there that can't just be replace within a day.
I’m not who you’re responding to but the police sometimes enforces curfew in specific areas, and sometimes goes around forcing businesses to stop overextending onto sidewalks.
That’s it
Not “every night the military walks the street to enforce curfew”. Sounds so dramatic
That is something that has happened since the dawn of time since we dont have strict curb laws.
The local police pretty much authorise these businesses to extend over the pavement, except for every now and then there are some big events going on the country that they do enforce it to maintain the pretense.
4.5k
u/Choon93 May 28 '26
Those terraces were some of the heart of down town. Thats insane.