formulating human settlements_informalization of formal housing (ktt vietnam)

8/3/2019 Formulating Human Settlements_Informalization of Formal Housing (KTT Vietnam)

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KHU TAP THE (KTT) HOUSING – HANOI, VIETN

65

KHU TAP THE (KTT) HOUSING

Vietnam

Since 1954 (and pursued more vigorously

there has been a massive state-sponsored

gram in Vietnam. Throughout the countr

of five-story walk-up, medium-sized apar

plexes, modeled on the Soviet “microrayokhu tap the (KTT), were built to house th

state factory workers and civil servants. T

ments were allocated according to a soci

gift to an exemplary worker or an active

Housing projects, along with other publi

were often gifts to Vietnam–icons demon

brotherly links between Vietnam and Sov

tries. The ‘Socialist City’ was an instrume

engineering based on the belief that a new

ronment would itself create a new society

they have become appropriated and adop

inhabitants and become more congruent

needs and everyday practices.

InSouth-eastAsia,the provisionof

ent.The Khu Tap The housingin Vithroughout the region– a rigid urb

space that was then appropriated b

a paradigmatic urban upgrading p

from different angles, both appr

experience and its interplay wit

nerstonesof theparadigmof hu

Informalization

Formalization o

opmaakUFO2v11:Layout 1 1/27/10 2:00 PM Page 64



KTT TRANSFORMATIONS IN HANOI

67

KTT Transformations in Hanoi

Emmanuel Cerise, Kelly Shannon

During Vietnam’s pursuit of socialism, urban areas

developed on the path towards the creation of the ‘City

of Socialist Man.’ Pivotal to the era, which in the northhad already begun in 1954 and, upon reunification of

the country in 1975, was pursued with vigor in the

whole of Vietnam, was the notion that the ‘Socialist

City’ would itself create a new society. Large-scale,

collective housing projects, along with other public

buildings were often gifts to Vietnam–icons demon-

strating brotherly links between Vietnam and Soviet

bloc countries. Architecture became subservient to

Party policy. The housing projects were known as khu

tap the (KTT), consisting of a series of two- to three-

and later five-story homogeneous, single-loaded corri-

dor blocks with ‘existence minimum’ housing typolo-

gies and– in some instances–with collective kitchens

or other shared facilities (particularly toilets). The

housing estates were designed as attractive living

areas following a rational plan of clear infrastructure,

no-nonsense architecture, with various public facili-

ties, playing yards, green and open public spaces.

They were conceived as autonomous ‘microrayons’(micro-regions) of live/work units, with state factories

built on the premises. This not only reinforced the

notion of collectivity, but also allowed for less state

development in urban infrastructure and transport

routes (which was not an insignificant determinant for

the cash-strapped government).

The USSR and several eastern European nations

not only financed a number of KTTs, but also provided

technical expertise and design in the rebuilding of

urban areas destroyed in the Second Indochine War

FORMULATING HUMAN SETTLEMENTSUFO #2

66

C

C

S S

K

K

K

K

S

200 m

500 m

multi-storey housing block

church

school

kindergarten

shops

parks, open spaces

K

S

C

neighborhood centre

From neighborhood unit to “Socialist City” complexes —— The Vietnamese microrayon shares a common pedigree with post-

World War II public housing estates in the West, which were in fact a variation of Perry’ 1920s neighborhood unit complex. KTTs in Hanoi —— The new microrayons were

e

Khu tap the – Socialist home units

Khu tap the – Isolated building





69

(the American-Vietnamese War). In Hanoi, the KTTs

were primarily built on the city’s peripheral ring road

with estates built in the south, east and west of the city

center. Mass-production techniques were applied to

building materials and brick and concrete replaced

wood-framed constructions. Unsurprisingly, the trans-

plantation of concrete construction (already handi-

capped by low-quality materials and poor technical

detailing) did not easily work in the extreme heat andhumidity of Vietnam’s monsoon climate, not to men-

tion the fact that Vietnamese live with their extended

family. Despite intensive construction efforts of the

Vietnamese state, the supply of housing was always

much less than the demand and there was a chronic

housing shortage which forced families to share tiny

flats. In the 1960s, there was a recorded 3,5 square

meters per person, which grew to only 6 square

meters in the 1980s. Estates were built and owned by

the state and inhabitants paid token rents, which was

not enough to even cover spiraling maintenance costs.

By 1986, all began to change in Vietnam, as it fol-

lowed a more global shift of socialist reform. The Viet-

namese state began a process of entering the market-

economy and the loosening of collective controls and,

consequently, its numerous run-down and vast hous-

ing estates posed a major challenge. The state could

neither continue its housing construction program,

nor manage the existing KTTs. In many cases, estates

were sold to inhabitants through cooperatives. In

other cases they were (partly) demolished to make way for new construction. The buildings that were

maintained have seen a wave of transformation– with

inhabitants enlarging units, extending balconies and

terraces (often also used as vegetable gardens), con-

verting ground floor units into vibrant commercial

spaces, occupying the once vast open spaces with new

structures (with new programs, including new hous-

ing). Historically and today, Hanoi’s KTTs simultane-

ously exemplify the problems of foreign housing

models and norms imposed without modification to

fit local circumstances, and testify to the power of

local customs and lifestyles in appropriating such

foreign impositions.


68

N

0 50m

Rationalization and “modernization” of housing —— The

massive urgancy for new housing was expedited by pre-fabrication

and rationalization of construction. The existenzminimum units

complied with the socialist ideology.

Typical KTT layout [T

sufficient entity and ther

collective services. In so

From minimum housing to maximum extension —— In the thickening process of th

KTT envelope, spatial appropriations and building extensions range from hanging gardens to

kitchens under which balconies, closed loggias and terraces are added. Recycled materials suc

as brick, metallic sheeting and wooden plate are commonly used for their construction.


/ /




71


70

0 5m

0 1m

Local appropriation —— Hanoi’s KTTs thrive as contemporary housing areas and function

More than double —— Typical cases of residents’ appropriation

of surrounding open space occurred by means of piecemeal exten-

sions. In the case of apartment building D4 [Trung Tu] the first floor

unit has more than doubled its size, increasing from 41 m² to 98 m².

“prothesis”

balcony, closed loggia and terrace

built under extension


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