Christina Schwenkel

Christina Schwenkel analyzes the collaboration between East German and Vietnamese architects and urban planners as they attempted to transform the bombed-out industrial city of Vinh into a model socialist city.

The Afterlife of East German Architecture in Urban Vietnam

Building Socialism

Celine Nguyen ✿

A really fascinating read if you’re interested in postwar Vietnam, urban planning in the global South, anthropology, architectural and design history, the agency of ordinary people in redesigning and rebuilding their environment, discussions of postcoloniality and critiques of ‘universal’ socialist urban aspirations… (I’m just reading it because I googled ‘VIETNAM DESIGN BOOK ACADEMIC’ and this was one of the first results.)

It begins with a discussion of the impact of American bombing during the Vietnam War (using Vietnamese archival evidence, especially photographs, to illustrate how people were injured/killed and buildings destroyed—very sobering to read) before turning to the rebuilding effort in Vinh, where the GDR sent urban planners, architects, and substantial aid to rebuild the city into a socialist utopia. There’s a lot of careful, thoughtful discussion on how East Germans perceived Vietnam’s anticolonial struggle; Orientalist depictions of Vietnamese daily practices; efforts on both sides to establish horizontal solidarity instead of a relationship of dependency; how socialist urban and architectural norms from the global North were unevenly (and sometimes inappropriately) translated into a Vietnamese context. 

I have a particular soft spot for chapter 9, ‘Renovation’, where Schwenkel details how residents made not-quite-legal renovations to their flats as buildings fell into disrepair, and how those renovations allowed residents to shape their flats to their living preferences and express their social/financial aspirations. The discussion of cơi nồi (exterior balcony-like structures added onto flats to serve as extensions to a room, or rooms in their own right) is especially fun and full of delightful stories, of cơi nồi used for poetry readings, English-learning classrooms, or laundry. I love histories of DIY design and of “tenants as designers rather than bricoleurs”, as Schwenkel writes.

Methodologically, it was fascinating to read about Schwenkel’s ethnographic work and the details she includes on how residents thought of their GDR-designed buildings; their daily routines and social habits; etc. 

Some miscellaneous final notes:

There’s a generous amount of imagery, e.g. stamps and posters from the GDR expressing solidarity with Vietnam; signage from housing blocks in Vinh…especially interesting from a graphic design perspective! 

It’s published by Duke University Press, which means the interior typography is lovely—lots of pleasant small caps and text figures. Maybe my favourite university press when it comes to interior typesetting.

Overall a really lovely and fascinating read (maybe unusually fascinating for an academic book, too!).

Building Socialism The Afterlife of East German Architecture in Urban Vietnam

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