Event Description
Hẻm is a southern Vietnamese term meaning alleyway with now 85% of Ho Chi Minh City's 10 million residents living in one. This presentation is intended to demonstrate the viability of the hẻm in what was once called Saigon and is now Ho Chi Minh City. (HCMC) Since their establishment 170 years ago under a French colonial government the hem not only have retained their traditional village structures, and have also organically evolved to form a dense network of around 4,000 alleys. The hẻm communities continue today, despite pressures of rapid urbanization, to make a significant contribution to the city’s cultural identity, character, and urban fabric. The presentation will explore the hem's spatial typology, one influenced by culture, tradition, land ownership and social dynamics. It will also demonstrate how those structures have contributed to the creation of enduring urban forms that express community resilience and sustainable living practices. The presentation will also show how this organic urbanism can provide design principles that can inform contemporary urban planning policy decisions in western countries including the United States.
Speaker
Edward R Haysom, LFRAIA, AIA, Hon FNZIA, General Director, Haysom Architects
Moderator: Simon Wells, Intl Assoc. AIA, Secretary, AIA Oceania; Principal, Simon Wells and Associates
Speaker Bios
Ed Haysom LFRAIA, AIA, Hon FNZIA has had an international architectural career designing a range of buildings but has specialised in resorts and hospitality projects.
From 2013 - 2019 he worked and lived in Vietnam and is Design Director of Transform Architecture.
In his professional life Ed has served as both Queensland Chapter President and National President of the Australian Institute of Architects. He was Deputy Chair of the Major Brisbane Festival Board from 2003 until 2014, as well as a Board member of the Brisbane Development Association, the Queensland Government Urban Places Board and the Design Advisory Board of the Brisbane City Council In 2014 he was appointed City Architect for the City of the Gold Coast.
He has been a member of the Australian delegation to the APEC negotiations on international trade in architectural services. In 2003 he was awarded the Centenary Medal for services to architecture.
In Vietnam Ed has advised the Ho Chi Minh City Peoples Committee on development of their City Hall as well as a new city in Can Gio. In 2019 he lead a team in designing a new technology university in the Nha Be district. He has also been on the jury of the Vietnam Property Awards for several years and in 2017 was the subject of a 17 minute documentary on the Vietnamese Television arts channel.
Ed now spends time between Ho Chi Minh City and Brisbane Australia. In Brisbane he writes a regular column on Urban Design for a local paper.
Simon Wells has been self-employed since 1981 specialising in refurbishing hotels, luxury retail, warehousing and small multi-unit residential developments in Australia and New Zealand.
A graduate of the University of New South Wales, Simon is a Registered Architect in the Australian States of New South Wales and Victoria and is an International Associate of the American Institute of Architects and a Member of the Royal Australian Institute of Architects.
