Vietnamese architects have proposed a vision

Posted by Mack Allen on May 12th, 2022

One of the UK\'s finest architecture firms has proposed plans for a lush new \"city within a city\" in Vietnam. The new 290-acre (roughly half-square-mile) zone in Ho Chi Minh City, the country\'s largest metropolis, would be built around a long \"spine\" of trees and vegetation, according to architects Foster + Partners.

The \"Global City\" project includes high- and low-rise residential buildings, public housing, and villas, as well as schools, a shopping center, and medical services. Two rivers will encircle the town, which will be divided into five distinct communities linked by a central park and boulevard as well as multiple pedestrian bridges.

According to Toby Blunt, a senior partner at Foster + Partners, the firm inherited the master plan but was tasked with increasing \"its relationship to nature while strengthening pedestrian connections across the distinct areas,\" he stated in an email.

The project would be completed in four years, according to Masterise Homes, a property developer also working on the district.

In a press release, Foster + Partners\' studio head Gerard Evenden emphasized the concept\'s numerous green areas, which include parks, courtyards, and gardens. He described the plan as \"a comprehensive, long-term approach\" that \"strives to find a balance between wildlife and human well-being.\"

The district\'s architecture, according to the news release, incorporates brick and timber to evoke the architectural traditions of Ho Chi Minh City, formerly known as Saigon. The southern city is known for its unique blend of styles, from French colonial antiques like the Saigon Opera House to concrete modernist apartment complexes & contemporary skyline additions such as the lotus flower-inspired Bitexco Tower.

Foster & Partners is well known for structures designed by renowned British architect Norman Foster, such as the Hearst Tower in New York and 30 St Mary Axe, also known as \"The Gherkin,\" in London.

The firm\'s staff is now working on a variety of planning efforts aimed at revitalizing urban regions or establishing new sustainable communities in densely populated places, and \"The Global City\" is one of the numerous future master plans produced in recent years. The planned reconstruction of Stockholm\'s central Slussen neighborhood is set to be completed by 2025, while the massive South Sabah Al-Ahmad, a new metropolis in Kuwait with an anticipated population of 280,000 people, is set to open in 2040.

In Vietnam, the architects are working on the VietinBank Business Center, a two-tower complex just outside of Hanoi in the country\'s north.