don't know why recently I developed the taste for righrise tubehouses.
I know many people detest it, I do too, but they are so unique, these buildings didn't exist 10yrs ago and I doubted they will exist in another 20-30, when saigon running out of spaces and need land for development.
so enjoy while they last!


Ben Thanh area
http://img45.imageshack.us/img45/8925/16431958l2wf.jpg
http://img45.imageshack.us/img45/2671/235448025dlajouph7pg.jpg
http://img45.imageshack.us/img45/2374/240795845trbptyph3sj.jpg
http://img45.imageshack.us/img45/9753/240795905tihrraph4er.jpg
http://img45.imageshack.us/img45/3025/277896357icomcoph8oe.jpg
http://img45.imageshack.us/img45/2530/image0014hh.jpg
http://img45.imageshack.us/img45/8926/vue001jpg7zj.jpg
http://img45.imageshack.us/img45/9079/vue005jpg7ab.jpg

if ya think about it many buildings in Europe, even beautiful famous historical cities have highrise tubehouses: Paris, London, Vienna, Amsterdam..etc...
but their highrises are uniform in height and architectures therefore you don't see as much contrast to have any political debate about it like these highrise tubhouses in Saigon. and tubehouses aren't bad as long as they stand in group.....these buildings in saigon are all over the places, the architectures are crazy, and the heights are killing one another......but I find it very charming,

Pham Ngu Lao area
http://img45.imageshack.us/img45/4871/14931944l4sx.jpg
http://img45.imageshack.us/img45/803/25418913l1tz.jpg
http://img45.imageshack.us/img45/8718/452360290xu.jpg
http://img45.imageshack.us/img45/6342/211417186ajyuioph9pj.jpg

thumb up !!!

houses in bangkok, thailand r much WORSE than ours!!! no offense!! been there, seen that!!!

Saigon's tube houses are unique,a very special architecture pattern in the world,it's a great example of human creativity in an organic urban agglomeration :)

so many times I passed by districts 1-3-5 and felt so bad about the colonial architectures are wiped out to replace with modern highrise tubehouses.
but Paris with the famous arc de triump and 12 boulevards were once lined with private houses and villas within enclosed gates........only during the 18-19th century that people knocked down private houses to build shophouses and comercial buildings.
so we shouldn't feel too bad about the lost of French buildings as long as they replace it with decent ones in VN.
balcony is what made highrise tubehouse look bad and also when it stood alone, other than that, it's alright

these street I think it's Tran Quoc Thao or Vo Van Tan.....very familiar to me, but I don't remember the name.
http://img45.imageshack.us/img45/6606/sigon3yd.jpg
http://img45.imageshack.us/img45/5569/286804341al.jpg
http://img45.imageshack.us/img45/2897/12883374l6fw.jpg
http://img45.imageshack.us/img45/1710/423921616wnvfpgph6ki.jpg
http://img45.imageshack.us/img45/2604/11883620l10mr.jpg

Hongkong and Newyork ............the 2 biggest cities.....got lots and lots of highrise tubehouses, believe me, the only reason why people don't see it is because thoses nice big buildings built along the harbours are blocking the views

I don't believe there is any 2m wide building in HK nor in NY. But would be pleased if you can show us one of them.

My favorite:

http://home.uchicago.edu/~jaroslaw/051005r1.JPG

I believe these are called pencil buildings... the best ones are in Tokyo, but HK has a few... ;)

http://home.uchicago.edu/~jaroslaw/051005r6.JPG

http://home.uchicago.edu/~jaroslaw/051005r7.JPG

http://home.uchicago.edu/~jaroslaw/051005r8.JPG

Tran there aren't any 2m wide tubshouse in NY or HK, but there are highrises tubhouses that constructed in the turn of the century or in Hongkong case ........during the 60-70s. I'd been to both places I know what I'm talking about.
and if you want you can do like what I do, go to webshots and search for pictures....I love doing it....I love to travel around the world....beauty is in every country ....but don't have the money to travel that much hehe....so webshots.com is the answer.
and search for old pictures of Burma, their capital city Yagoon.......after Hanoi and Saigon, I think my favourite city in asia is Yangoon...the Birtish colonial architectures legacy are exquisite......too bad Hong kong and Singapore demolished all for tall buildings.....or I say after Yangoon I love the bristish architectures in Singapore and Hongkong too..........but not quite into the spanish legacy in Philipines, or Portuguess in Macao

yeah there are a lot of them that i like...but this gotta be the ugliest one..
man this guy must wanna proclaim to the world that he lives in a box on top of another one literrally.

dont they looks like shipping containers?

http://img274.imageshack.us/img274/9979/rowofhousescopy9dn.jpg

HK tubehouses rise higher than any VN tubehouse, that cause them to mppk slimmer but they are in no way as ridiculously narrow as those in VN

another thing i think different is that since the urban layout of Saigon is French based...with continuous facades..i create a different affects to these tubehouses than those in hk..which seemed to be all over the places.

What is this park ? Has it existed in 2003 yet ?

that park is located r8 in front of dah so-called "backpacker's zone" ...on Pham Ngu Lao street...i believe....dah black-n-white checker-ish buildin' iz Zen plaza....i just went thur the other nite...it was...grande!!

look at the before and after shots of this area.....now I know what the newpapers were talking about......many buildings exceeded the height by added additional floors to their buildings without permits .....and was forced to knock down.
but I feel so bad for these short lived buildings...the before is better than the after

before
http://img45.imageshack.us/img45/4386/79204760csmxfoph2qp.jpg

after
http://img45.imageshack.us/img45/5951/267293647warbvhph4bz.jpg

http://img45.imageshack.us/img45/7450/271437120wyhammph2ho.jpg
http://img45.imageshack.us/img45/5673/32040918l7dn.jpg

Great shots. Any idea when these were demolished? And I think we can add two more buildings (12+ stories) to the emporis database! :)

Great shots. Any idea when these were demolished? And I think we can add two more buildings (12+ stories) to the emporis database! :)

Jaro, you can add this building to the emporis database.
Address: 366 Nguyễn Trãi, Quận 5
From http://www.hbpasia.com/
REE-E Town web site: http://www.etown.com.vn/etown_v2/index.php
http://www.hbpasia.com/IMAGES/Commercial/REE/086050331OverallWR.jpg
http://www.hbpasia.com/IMAGES/Commercial/REE/REE021112FrontREleWR.gif
From the air
http://www.etown.com.vn/etown_v2/images/airomap_2.jpg

this building too shared the same fate.......originally it was a 15-16 storeys structure.
http://img45.imageshack.us/img45/9980/271437091cepekoph4tm.jpg

all these buildings were demolished last year .....somewhere in the summer or fall of 2004..
on that note......1 building in particular....not highrise tubehouse.......I believe it was posted by titanic.......a haft white-half blue or purple building near Ky-Dong church in district 3.....that building also made the news for adding 4-5 floors , but I think it stays.....so that building is among one of the luckiest few

all these were demolished? what is there now?

the buildings are still standing they just chopped the additonal storeys.

too bad, it is pretty though (binh minh hotel)

yeah i like that hotel too