GOOD MORNING VIETJAN - HANOI JAN - ASSEMBLY, ASSEMBLY
This is another casual snap I took during the 2012 Intrepid Travel/3RRR FM Vietnam trip that turned out to be something rather interesting upon revisiting the picture.
I took this from outside the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum (Hanoi), standing on Hùng Vương Street, looking east across the vast space of Ba Đình Square. I was fascinated by the stand of large A-frame tower cranes and had no idea, at the time, what they were building.
It looked pretty significant, and it turns out that it was the new Vietnam National Assembly House, located in the political area in Hanoi.
It is built on the grounds of the old Ba Đình National Assembly Hall, next to the historical site of Thăng Long Royal Citadel.
Now completed, the Assembly features a massive cylindrical assembly chamber, surrounded by a colonnaded square facade and office and services building. The German architectural firm Inros Lackner designed the earthquake resistant main structure. It’s 102.5 m across each side, and has a floor area of 60,000 square metres, while the main hall can accomodate around 1,100 people.
Construction started in 2009 and was finished in 2014, at a project cost of around 350 million Australian dollars.
By the way, OF COURSE I took a picture of Ho Chi Minh's Mausoleum. It's just a habit I have also developed to face 180 degrees away from major landmarks to see what else is around that might be overlooked. Although the finished Assembly Hall would now qualify as an landmark too...
GOOD MORNING VIETJAN - HANOI JAN - ASSEMBLY, ASSEMBLY
This is another casual snap I took during the 2012 Intrepid Travel/3RRR FM Vietnam trip that turned out to be something rather interesting upon revisiting the picture.
I took this from outside the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum (Hanoi), standing on Hùng Vương Street, looking east across the vast space of Ba Đình Square. I was fascinated by the stand of large A-frame tower cranes and had no idea, at the time, what they were building.
It looked pretty significant, and it turns out that it was the new Vietnam National Assembly House, located in the political area in Hanoi.
It is built on the grounds of the old Ba Đình National Assembly Hall, next to the historical site of Thăng Long Royal Citadel.
Now completed, the Assembly features a massive cylindrical assembly chamber, surrounded by a colonnaded square facade and office and services building. The German architectural firm Inros Lackner designed the earthquake resistant main structure. It’s 102.5 m across each side, and has a floor area of 60,000 square metres, while the main hall can accomodate around 1,100 people.
Construction started in 2009 and was finished in 2014, at a project cost of around 350 million Australian dollars.
By the way, OF COURSE I took a picture of Ho Chi Minh's Mausoleum. It's just a habit I have also developed to face 180 degrees away from major landmarks to see what else is around that might be overlooked. Although the finished Assembly Hall would now qualify as an landmark too...