French flair flavours 'Paris of the Orient'

By Wang Su Tiak

JAKARTA (JP): While artists around the world may look to the Orient as a source of creative inspiration, oriental art and architecture itself draws stimulation from a multiplicity of cultural influences.

Hanoi is one Asian city rich in arts and architecture. The French arrived in Hanoi 120 years ago, and French style has formed the root of modern artistic and architectural development in this "Paris of the Orient".

The French initiated their influence by developing an 18- hectare plot behind the present Hanoi Opera House. Construction of Hanoi began in the early 20th century and the city's colonial quarter is particularly rich in nuances of French architectural style.

The modern colonial buildings around the popular Hoan Kiem lake are good examples of the mingling of Vietnamese and French artistic and architectural tradition.

The mixture of French architectural style with local cultural tradition was more an experimentation with new architectural styles than a case of crude cultural imperialism.

"There are no specific features that define the Beaux-Art architecture at Hanoi. It is a natural evolution of a long artistic culture," said Ho Thieu Tri, a Vietnamese architect working on a renovation project in Hanoi.

While limited telecommunication technology slows the transfer of information about international architectural developments and the state of the art, architectural styles once popular in France have been channeled into the colony in a short period of time.

Early French buildings in Hanoi did not follow any one pure French style. Different influences, including Beaux Arts, Art Deco, Neo-Classicism and Neo-Modernism, were blended with Asian and Vietnamese "localism". This hybrid Vietnamese architecture has become a reference point and inspiration for a later generation of Vietnamese architects.

Foreign architectural styles, which required specific materials and construction techniques, have been adapted to suit the local climate, the accessibility of materials, and availability of skilled workers to reproduce the high-quality craftsmanship.

Early French-Vietnamese architects took these factors into account. The availability of skilled workers was especially important since most workers involved in the construction were criminals as well slaves. This led to a reduction of complicated detail in the buildings and shaped the rise of a new architecture under colonial domination.

Opera House

The French colonial society also implemented a new system of social classification, which treated local people as second- class. The colonialist elite built their social infrastructure around racially exclusive social clubs and an Opera House. These buildings represent a common element of the colonial quarters found in various former colonial centers in Southeast Asia. The Hanoi Opera House, also known as Hanoi Municipal, was one of the earliest of such developments in Hanoi.

The Vietnamese government has provided funds to renovate the Opera House for the first since it was opened 85 years ago. The renovation, the first project to receive such funds, is expected to restore the building's early architectural features, which originally resembled those of the Paris Opera House.

New material will be used to replace damaged sections and new equipment will also be installed. The rich interior space, dominated by a dome at the center will also be repaired, while the original decoration will be revealed and recreated using modern techniques.

The renovation forms part of a wider program to restore the area around the Opera House and the adjacent History Museum. A public park is planned for the original site of the French concession.

Preservation is a rising concern to the Vietnamese, who have witnessed a drastic transformation of the country since the recent opening up to foreign investment and the adoption of market economy principles. Due to the resulting demand for business space and commercial centers, several towering high-rise buildings have been erected in the midst of the original medium- rise landscape.

The government has harnessed its relationship with preservationists and private developers to help maintain the city's identity and commercial economic development.

Although several developers, including one from Indonesia, have suggested that government regulations are out of context with the next wave of city development, Hanoi authorities still prefer to control the pace of the development.

Developers are requested to not dismantle historical buildings and to incorporate elements of these historical buildings into the new development.

In the example of the Hanoi Hilton Hotel, which is being developed next to the famous Hanoi prison, the prison will become part of the hotel complex.

Despite the problem of many unsustainable development plans and the present crisis of property oversupply in Asian cities, Hanoi and the Vietnamese architects are still confident about the future.

Their optimism partly arises from the city management that maintains and respects Hanoi's unique identity. They see that city development must consider the area's original identity by combining the best of the local and international influences and by deriving inspiration for the new from the city's past.

The writer is a Jakarta-based architect, previously working for new city development in Hanoi.