French flair flavours 'Paris of the Orient'

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.