Tube-house: An architectural study on urban type in Hanoi, Vietnam

Hanoi is the largest city in Vietnam. It is a political and socio-economic center, where attracting planners’ and environmentalist’s interests. Nowadays, Hanoi has been facing problems of rapid urbanization as many major cities in developing countries. The Ancient Quarter is a former commercial activity that plays an important role in the economic activities of Hanoi. All activities are occurring on almost streets of this specific area. Especially, Đồng Xuân market the biggest in the city, is located here, delivering goods to suburbs of Hanoi and other provinces. These problematic housing issues in Hanoi today are logic consequences of a complicated and constantly changing process of housing provision in different socioeconomic context. Therefore, without historical and holistic perspectives, housing issues in Hanoi cannot be understood thoroughly, so that rational and realistic resolution would not be developed. This paper aims to provide a deep view of housing issues and tube-house (shop-house) heritage in Vietnam, Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia respectively. To enhance conservation strategy and improve “spirit” protection of Ancient Quarter towards a better living environment to year 2025, a micro frame-work for tube-house preservation covering “Insite - to - Outside” approaches is proposed accordingly.