This is the proposal for the open international design competition of the National Assembly House and New BA DINH Conference Hall in Vietnam, held by the Vietnamese Government.
The program required main facilities including the National Assembly House (700 seats), the main conference hall (3000 seats), banquet hall and assembly’s offices. The House of Ho Chi Minh, a traditional pilebuilt house with raised floor, where people gathered freely and participated in politics, is the origin of the Vietnamese Government. We intended to regenerate this original scene in an appropriate form for the 21st century in this proposal.
This building is a 150m x 150m x 9m volume containing assembly’s office, which floats above a 9m high piloti which rests on a raised public plaza that is connected to the surrounding public ground. Three main facilities, all clad in glass, stand above the ground and penetrate the piloti.
We proposed ecological cooling systems during extreme climates in this building, by placing many void spaces of various dimensions, and by introducing adjustable double skin glass louvers enveloping the main facilities.
Main activities are all open towards the piloti where people freely circulate. Also the building is buried the surrounding greenery, so it does not display symbolic facades.
We intended to express clarity and transparency as the basic symbol of the new Vietnam, which is contrary to the authoritarian expression of the existing House of Parliament.