With its “new era” of architecture, Hanoi dreams of itself as a global metropolis

LETTER FROM HANOI

In this 7^e On Tet Day, the Vietnamese New Year, crowds flock to make offerings at the Tay Ho temple, on the banks of West Lake, the largest lake in Hanoi. The women wore colorful dresses. Sitting behind a desk, wise old men with goatees compose auspicious messages.

Right next door, a future iconic building under construction: the city’s new Opera House, designed by architect Renzo Piano. With his shell “pixelated” in pearly tones and which seems to undulate, it will evoke a pearl in its oyster shell, as if placed on a rectangle of water open to the open sea – pollution in Hanoi often prevents us from seeing the other shore of the lake.

Communist Vietnam entered this year, under the leadership of a hasty and ambitious new leader, To Lam, into a “new era” – a second doï moi (the renewal policy of 1986) – with the aim of catching up with the rich countries in 2045. The time has therefore come, for its capital, to play in the big leagues of metropolisation: through emblematic buildings which contribute to international influence, by attracting prestigious concerts and sporting events, but also through gigantic urban transformations.

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