U-Silk City

Hanoi, Vietnam

Visualization © Franken Architekten

Photo © Franken Architekten

Architects: Franken\Architekten

Location: Hanoi, Vietnam
Year: 2012
Team: Bernhard Franken, Christoph Cellarius, Lotte Cellarius, Thien Duong, David Berens, Sarah Bolius, Eduardo Costa, Alexander Glaser, Isabel Strelow, Tuan Tong, Thanh Nguyen, Minh Chu, Hoang Dang, Hung Nguyen, Hai Khuong, Thuan Tran, Tuan Anh Ha, Phuoc Ng
Size: 720.000 sqm

“U-Silk City”, the 12-hectare urban expansion in the south of the Vietnamese capital Hanoi is the largest project under construction in Vietnam and comprises nine up-market 28-50-storey residential highrises and a wide range of public leisure and shopping facilities in the interlinking, greened pedestal storey. The building depths stipulated in the existing master plan, which Franken Architekten is to optimize, is diveded up by voids, producing increased surface area, more light for the space inside, and an excellent microclimate. The voids are positioned in a parametrically generated rhythmic structure, this becoming “dancing voids”. Each of the residential highrises has its own rhythmic structure, such that a composition of nine similar yet nonetheless unique buildings emerges with additional areas that will be used as "sky gardens", referencing architectural utopias of the vertical city.Thge residential towers are characterized by the interplay between filled and empty volumes, which continues in the intricate roof landscape with luxurious penthouse apartments. The facade texture, which are irregular in their rhythm and oscillate in gentle colors and, just like the corrugated folds of the planned landscape architecture, trigger an association with silk, one of Hanoi's traditional products.