The National Assembly Building of Vietnam (), officially the National Assembly House () and also known as the New Ba Đình Hall (), is a public building located on Ba Đình Square across from the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum in Hanoi, Vietnam. Construction started on October 12, 2009, and finished on October 20, 2014. The building is the meeting place of the National Assembly of Vietnam, and hosts major conferences held by the Communist Party of Vietnam.
This building is the largest office complex built in Vietnam after the reunification of the country. The Building covers an area of 63,000 square meters, and is 39 meters in height. The building can accommodate up to 80 meetings and has capacity for more than 2,500 people.
The old Ba Đình Hall was demolished in 2008 to make room for the new National Assembly House. Archaeological remains of the old imperial city of Hanoi, Thăng Long, were found on the site, causing construction of the building to be delayed.
The proposed project took 15 years (1999–2014) from the initial concept to the inauguration. The project attracted attention and debates in the country's mass media concerning the construction site and conservation of Ba Đình Hall. The project led to the largest archaeological excavations in Vietnam at the site of Imperial Citadel of Thăng Long. The German architecture design consultant company, gmp International GmbH, was awarded the Vietnam's National Architecture Award by the Vietnam Architect Society in 2014.
Background Ideas for a new National Assembly building were floated around since the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (North Vietnam) established control of Hanoi following the 1954 Geneva Accords. In March 1960, the government sent a hundred experts, officials and workers to Beijing for nine months in order to learn more about design and construction, procure materials, and study the Ten Great Buildings of Beijing which had just opened the previous year, especially the Great Hall of the People.
Meanwhile, experts from China collaborated with Vietnamese architects Nguyễn Hữu Tiềm, Hoàng Như Tiếp, Ngô Huy Quỳnh and others to design a new legislative building on the site of the colonial-era Hoàng Hoa Thám horse racetrack. With the expectation that this land (now Quần Ngựa Sports Palace) would be devoted to the new National Assembly building, the joint Sino-Vietnamese team submitted their completed plans to the Ministry of Construction. They then reported to then-President Hồ Chí Minh and other state leaders. Hồ Chí Minh was concerned that the country was too poor for a new legislative building and instead proposed a temporary structure to be used by the National Assembly until reunification, after which a grander, more beautiful legislative building would be built. Upon the return of the experts to China, the Vietnamese leaders announced their agreement with the idea but the domestic and international situation of the country meant that construction was not feasible.
The destruction caused by Operation Rolling Thunder meant that the plans for the new assembly building were cancelled. Nguyễn Cao Luyện and a number of other architects were commissioned to build Ba Đình Hall, which was completed in 1963. Because it was only meant as a temporary structure, it was modest in size.
After reunification and the Đổi Mới reforms, Prime Minister Võ Văn Kiệt proposed building a new legislative hall on a grander scale to represent Vietnam's new era of development. Around 1998–1999, the government ordered the Ministry of Construction to prepare and build a large and modern construction center. The Ministry proposed the site of 18 Hoàng Diệu Street as it was an expansive, undeveloped piece of land with only Ba Đình Hall having been built there. When the issue was brought to the National Assembly, it was suggested that a new legislative building should be built, because other countries had dedicated structures for their legislatures while the National Assembly of Vietnam had still continued to convene in the "temporary" Ba Dinh Hall This led to the idea of making a new National Assembly House attached to the New Ba Dinh Hall as the National Conference Center.
Development
Initial stages
2002–2007
In October 2002, the government established the Steering Committee for Construction of the National Assembly House and Ba Dinh Hall (new) initiated by then-Deputy Prime Minister Nguyễn Tấn Dũng. The Prime Minister at the time, Phan Văn Khải, approved the project feasibility report. At the end of 2002, the chosen plan was to build the new National Assembly House to the right of Ba Đình Hall, on 18 Hoang Dieu Street with access to Hoàng Văn Thụ Street and Independence Street. Under this plan, Ba Đình Hall would be preserved.
In 2003, when surveying the construction site of the National Assembly at 18 Hoang Dieu, the land was cleared to prepare for construction and Vietnam Institute of Archaeology conducted archaeological excavations in accordance with the law on cultural heritage. The 2003 archaeological announcement conference drew the attention of public opinion and scientific researchers around the archaeological site at the very site of the intention to build a new Parliament building. This is the largest excavation of the archaeological history 6 was announced, with an area of 14.000m2. Excavation of this area lasted 1 year with 14 excavations, found millions of extremely valuable antiques and relics. This site is located in the right place for the construction of the National Assembly building as planned.
On the morning of September 26, 2003, an extraordinary workshop was held at the National Center for Social Sciences and Humanities in Hanoi to discuss the significance and propose solutions for conserving and promoting the historical value of the National Assembly building site and the Ba Dinh area. For the first time, a palace from the Ly–Tran dynasties and an Imperial Citadel from the Ly dynasty were discovered in an almost intact state. This discovery became the most controversial topic of the workshop: one side advocated preserving the archaeological site and halting construction plans, while the other supported retaining only select areas and continuing with the development of the National Assembly building.
In addition to the academic debate, there was also intense discussion among National Assembly members, government officials, Party leaders at the time, and retired leaders. On 25 September 2003, the Standing Committee of the National Assembly reviewed the design proposal for the National Assembly House and the new Ba Dinh Hall. However, the meeting failed to reach a conclusion due to issues arising from an ongoing archaeological excavation at the proposed construction site. The decision on whether to proceed with building the National Assembly House on the planned land was ultimately referred to the CPV Politburo.
Then-Construction Minister Nguyễn Hồng Quân was also concerned about the monuments. The ministry proposed that an alternative location should be found for the assembly hall, but many former and current officials opposed this plan, as they felt that it should be located within the administrative center of Ba Đình. Another factor that complicated matters was the need for a large building to host the APEC Vietnam 2006 conference. The Politburo decided to suspend the project in October 2003, instead focusing on excavating the Imperial Citadel of Thăng Long and building the Vietnam National Convention Center.
When the time came to restart the project, several alternative sites were proposed, including 37 Hùng Vương Street, the Vietnam Military History Museum; the former location of Cột Cờ Stadium (behind the Ministry of Defence on Nguyễn Tri Phương Street); the area to the left of Ba Đình Hall (behind General Võ Nguyên Giáp's residence and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs); and various other locations. However, none of these options received support.
2007–2009
In April 2007, the National Assembly issued a resolution choosing Lot D in Ba Đình as the location of the new hall. Domestic and international consultants would be recruited to plan and design the building. Despite its historical status, Ba Đình Hall was planned to be demolished.
The demolition plan was quite controversial among the public and the press. Most notably, Võ Văn Kiệt wrote to Thanh Niên and Võ Nguyên Giáp wrote to Đại Đoàn Kết for the preservation of the historical hall, carefully scrutinize the plan, and find an alternative site for the new building. Both also sent letters to national leaders for the same purpose.
In July 2007, the Government established the Steering Committee for the construction of the National Assembly House headed by standing Deputy Prime Minister Nguyễn Sinh Hùng. Nguyen Sinh Hung decided that the organization and dismantlement of Ba Dinh Hall and the architectural works in the campus of Ba Dinh Hall should be completed in November 2007.
In May 2008, the Prime Minister issued Document No. 734 / TTg-KTN approving the selection of an architectural plan for the National Assembly House, and started the process of appointing a contractor for the design and construction of the project.
Between 2008 and 2009, the renowned firms gmp International GmbH - Inros Lackner AG conducted the adjustment and completion of the detailed design of the National Assembly project to carry out construction.
Design options
Competition Due to the large size and complexity of the project, Prime Minister Võ Văn Kiệt requested that a competition be held to choose the architectural plans. 25 contest plans from 22 design organizations in 12 countries were submitted to a judging committee consisting of leading Vietnamese experts and four foreign members nominated by the International Architects Association. Plan No. 17 from the German firm gmp International GmbH won the first prize. Experts in the field of architecture said that the contest was held unprofessionally, not following the standards of international competition for works of the caliber of the National Assembly, leading to quantity and quality. The projects participating in the contest are unsatisfactory.
From 2 to 15 September 15, 2007, the Vietnam National Convention Center hosted an exhibition of plans for the new hall to solicit opinions from residents and experts in the field of design and architecture to study and choose the most optimal design option. The exhibition displayed 17 potential options. Deputy Minister of Construction Trần Ngọc Chính, who served as the chairman of the selection council, said that out of those options, one would be used while the other four would get consolation prizes. After being displayed for a period of two weeks to get people's opinions, the Selection Council held a seminar of the Vietnam Architects Association and other professional associations to provide additional suggestions for the selected judgment. The results were submitted to the government for final decision.
Debate over the architectural options continued to take place in the media. Many people felt, especially Vietnamese architects, that none of the 17 options were optimal and met the requirements. However, option L787 dominated the vote among exhibition attendees and won the contract.
Selected design
In 2008, the winning proposal from gmp International GmbH was submitted to the Assembly. Minister of Construction Nguyễn Hồng Quân said "[this plan] has reached a high level of consensus from the Council of Architects with over 30 members, the Prime Minister agrees, and the people gave it the highest amount of votes in the three regional exhibitions". Although the majority of members of the Standing Committee of the National Assembly agreed with the architectural plan, some still wanted various changes in the design's details.