Houses are disappearing

Hanoi, Vietnam had a "subsidy period" in the nation's history, from the time the country was first unified (1976) to 1986. This difficult economic period was associated with 3- or 4-storey dormitories with yellow-painted walls, identical green shutters, scattered throughout the city. That is where most civil servants live, a place that nurtures and harbors the childhoods of the 6X, 7X, 8X generations... Up to now, after more than half a century, succumb to the rigors of time, these old rows of houses are no longer has enough vitality to light the fire of the home, it become tarnished, mossy, desolate and is gradually being buried by the inevitable development of urban areas. If you have the opportunity to go inside the building, you will feel like you just stepped through the Doraemon's time machine and get lost in the memory space of a time of great suffering, where families of three or four generations once gathered happily in a space of only ten square meters. Considering the old dormitories as a "character" in shaping, in January 2024, I carried out a project to mark the remaining blocks of houses in Hanoi - a city over 1,000 years old - by recreating presents the space and time of a historical period to mark the turning point in urban economic development today, when city planning is gradually eliminating such rows of houses. Is it the price of rapid economic development, the urban planning strategy or the cruelty of time?