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The congested and messy Asian city. I have not understood the extent of how Ho Chi Minh City fits into that stereotype until today when we did a quick tally of the number of buildings we have made in the model of the area that we are studying for the semester's studio. The city on first impression seemed fairly well structured with much of the urbanscape composed by buildings developed on plots of land mostly 4m wide. And with the opening of the economy in recent years, people have been able to buy these narrow urban plots on which low rise colonial-era buildings have (once) stood and redevelop them into higher density buildings serving a wide range of functions. This has given rise to an interesting urban phenomenon, where these narrow 4m wide plots are being used to erect buildings of up to 7 or eight storeys and in some cases where 2 adjacent plots are concurrently being developed, 13-14 storeys. The result is a an interesting composition of tall, narrow slabs, that more often than not, sit beside old zinc roof buildings, and designed in a variety of styles and colours, aiming to outshine each other in an explosion of pastels, mouldings and shiny stainless steel grilles. And if one was to have been to Europe or has some knowledge of European urban structure, he would imagine that an open courtyard or some kind of open space would exist in the interior of these large urban blocks, being bounded by the "street" buildings" at the periphery. A fair assumption given the city was a French colonial city. Indeed, in the research that we did, a French map of Saigon in the late 1800s showed that those courtyard did exist previously. However, if one were to attempt to verify this today, he would be in for a shock, as a venture into the heart of the urban block would reveal a whole new world with the original courtyards colonized by old sheds and low rise concrete buildings, not too dissimilar to their streetfront counterparts, and accessible only through an inconspicuous gate from the street. A village in a city in which a local economy of street vendors and cottage industry, resides, invisible to the unknowing.

On the plot, that Weihui and I was in charge of, was a total 161 buildings. The whole site model will have a total of more than 850 buildings and we are not even making much of the surroundings. Perhaps the densest site model that I've ever made and a startling awakening to the speed and accompanying disorder and disparity that plagues (or "characterize" if you prefer a milder word) the developing Asian city.