The Pitch
Location
Take A Dip!, located in Hanoi, Vietnam, takes as its site one of the beloved spots along the Red River that local Hanoians often frequent for their summer dives. Yet its popularity is only kept to small circles as access is limited--through a flimsy set of stairs along Long Bien Bridge, and down at the floodplain level, narrow pathways through dense farms.
Site Map
Background
Although I have heard from my dad that he would swim in Hong River sometimes, I did not know of the site's existence until my coworker told me about it, which prompted me to research more about the site. The site appears to me as Excess space because despite this interesting use, it is only happening in a few scattered spots along the riverfront and the rest of the land is covered in farms or wild vegetation. Visitors also have to spend an excess amount of effort to navigate to the site while there is an excess amount of trash along the riverfront. Thus, the design can be considered as part of an effort to clean up the area in a fun and accessible way. In terms of design, the project's concept reflects the theme of Excess because of the excessiveness in several contradictory qualities of the space--intimacy, mystery, and openness. The difficulty of getting to the destination of the site is amplified to an excess degree as the journey itself is designed as a game.
Image Source: Google Maps
Agricultural fields of bananas and corns dominate the landscape of the Hong River Bank
Image Source: Google Maps
Program
Based on the concept of Escape Room games that bear much resemblance to the existing site's mysterious/adventurous atmosphere, the project proposes to create a series of outdoor rooms with different clues that encourage visitors to interact with the surrounding landscape. The ultimate challenge is to escape these rooms to reach the destination--the riverbank. As water puppetry was created in the rice paddies of the Hong riverbank, the game's narrative and setting incorporate this theme to pay tribute to this traditional Vietnamese art form while adapting the storyline of Tam Cam--a Vietnamese folk tale that is similar to Cinderella.
Site Plan (WIP)
Project Research
Geography
The site is part of the Hong River Delta--a flat low-lying plain formed by Hong River and its distributaries with Thai Binh River in northern Vietnam. The delta has the smallest area but highest population and population density of all regions. The region, measuring 640 acres, is well protected by a network of dikes and most of the land is devoted to rice cultivation as the river is laden with silt--a rich type of soil that is suitable for agriculture. Along with agriculture, other important economic activities include fisheries, aquaculture, harbor construction and mangrove forestry, etc. There is much potential for further development of aquaculture, yet these developmental pressures, coupled with heavy pollution and overfishing, also create serious threats to the estuarine environment and ecosystem.
Socioeconomic Condition
The riverbank community is often perceived by other neighborhood residents as low-income, yet they possess an incredible amount of vitality and resiliency (more research to come).
Ecology / Sustainability
The communities living along the Hong River Bank has had to cope with flooding for a long time. This is coupled with issues resulted from climate change, notably water scarcity, soil salinization and pollution.
Image Source: Bao Moi
Current Development Plans
There have been several proposals to transform the riverbanks since 2016. The city started consulting international designers who have had experience with redesigning waterfronts, and from a selection of precedents in South Korea and China, decided that the Yanweizhou Park in Jinhua City, Zhejiang, China bears the most resemblance to the condition of Hong River. The city has invited the Design and Urban Planning Institute of Jinhua City as a consultant and requires the proposal to fulfill the following goals: (1) generating enough revenues to invest back in flood mitigation projects; (2) connecting new solutions with existing and future bridges to create a seamless network across the river; (3) considering the potential of the middle island as part of a link between the two sides of the Hong River.
While the proposed solution might resolve the technical problem of flooding, its vision, which includes only high-rises implies that low-income communities currently residing in this area and community groups such as the naked beach club will be displaced entirely.
Image Source: VTC News
Precedents
The following projects are great examples of the type of project that inspires Take A Dip!. These examples will be used to guide the development of the project and as references for the public to better understand the proposal.
Shoreline Park
Shoreline Park (Gothernburg, Sweden), designed by MARELD and atelier le balto, is a park built on a former harbor that introduces new ideas about wild aesthetics and maintenance.
Image Source: Landezine
River Ljubljanica Renovations
Renovations of the banks of the River Ljubljanica (Ljubljanica, Slovenia) was completed by multiple design firms, using a set of simple interventions that appeal to the intimate scale of the neighborhood.
Image Source: Public Space
Kastrup Sea Bath
Kastrup Sea Bath (Copenhagen, Denmark) by White Arkitekter is an offshore structure that offers swimming opportunities including diving with protection against wind.
Image Source: Visit Copenhagen
Maps
Hanoi Land Cover (2009)
Regional Topographic Map
Images and Videos
Aerial view of the project site
View of the riverfront from the southern side
View of the riverfront from the northern side
View towards the surrounding neighborhood
A short walkthrough of the first room. The setting is based on the first scene of the Tam Cam folk tale where two teams representing the two sisters have to compete against each other to collect the most trash in the rice paddies. The walkthrough illustrates how members stationed at different points along the boardwalk can transport the woven baskets with collected trash to the next member via a cable.
A view of one of the break rooms along the riverbank with boardwalks immersed in grass fields