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2018.02.13

“Asian Review14” ― Hanoi part6 Huge underground malls in Vietnamese style

Asian Review14” ― Hanoi part6

Huge underground malls in Vietnamese style

In Hanoi, the top of the real estate industry called Vingroup is trying to develop huge housing development in the suburbs, while building plate shaped high-rise residential complexes in the city area. One of them is the Royal City, and I heard that Vincoms Mega Mall boasting the largest area in ​​Vietnam is also located there and I went to see it. I was surprised by the fact that almost everything was underground. The site under the residential complex had gone through overall excavation and the mall’s two layers, the basement first floor and the basement second floor with the gross area of 230,000 square meters was created. I was not quite sure about the laws and regulations, but I was surprised to hear that most of the floor area in the basement was out of the Floor Area Ratio (FAR) limitation.

There is another similar development called Times City which is somewhat older than this. It has 200,000 square meters with one basement floor. The ceiling height is about 4 meters and it felt like an underground shopping area of ​​Japan long ago. There was a feeling that I did not want to spend a long time there. Since it has only one floor, and is difficult to recognize the main axis, I was worried that I could not get to my destination unless I referred to the floor maps and the signage.

Compared to this, the Royal City has two-layer structure with colonnade which creates a three-dimensional effect. Therefore when you spend a long time in the Royal City, it will make you forget that you are underground. Regarding commercial space, I realized again that such psychological effects also influence the value of space. In addition, in the Royal City, there is an aquarium, an amusement park, and it follows the manners of the American style huge shopping mall, though it is totally underground.

The Vietnamese people seem to not resist to the power of a large country so much, they respond to it very well, by taking it in and digesting it. They can advance things at their own pace before the counterpart can notice. In such characteristics, we can catch a glimpse of the popularity of Vietnam.

(End of Hanoi edition)

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