For a long time, the traditional habitat of Hanoi looked like the houses remaining and seen in the old quarter of the capital: high and narrow.

After the country's independence in 1945, the city began to be laid out differently and new houses were built. The 1950s witnessed the new housing model called Khu Tap The (KTT), a soviet style collective buildings for people working in the administrations and state-owned enterprises. These buildings of only three or four floors include very small apartments (about 9m2) with sharing kitchens and bathrooms. Originally, there was an average of one kitchen and one bathroom for three or four apartments. Furthermore, life was also organized around the collective facilities established within the KTTs such as local market, parks, kindergarten, sport yard etc. All these facilities were administered by the State and the private property was forbidden.

Built to meet the need for new housing, the KTTs also represented the socialist way of life for a short time. However, the original accommodation were quickly transformed by the residents by building extensions to their homes to gain space and privacy. These extensions, called today "tiger cages", can be seen easily from the outside. It is mainly where the inhabitants of these cramped apartments dry their clothes.

The KTTs were built until the 1980s, when the USSR began a political and economic crisis that led to its downfall. During this period, the other communist countries also experienced crises, which led to major changes in some countries such as Vietnam. The adoption of Doi Moi (Renovation) in 1986 by the People's Republic of Vietnam was largely due to the progressive fall of the USSR and the end of its financial aid. The change introduced at that time, characterized by a controlled liberalization of the economy, precipitated the halt of KTTs construction. Accommodations that had been rented out until that time were sold to the inhabitants under the condition that the new owners would take care of their maintenance.

Many KTTs remain today as they were, as a testimony to a socialist past which, although still influence the habits of the older population, is far from the modern aspirations of the young generation. Housing in Vietnam's big cities is today marked by the commercial strategies of the real estate sector. The individualization of lifestyles is coupled with an increasing commercialization of services for residents, more and more assimilated to consumers. The construction of the Khu Do Thi (KDT), new housing built from the 2000s onwards for administrative staff, bears witness to this change of mind. If the KTTs had been built to embody a socialist way of life, the KDTs perfectly embody Hanoi's new urban development characterized by land and housing speculation. Indeed, in most cases, civil servants who buy their houses in the KDTs at a modest price, then sell them at a much higher price. Hanoi's urban housing today seems to be at the opposite of the socialist spirit of the early days.

While the socialist way of life did not last long, it might be interesting today though to look at the appropriation/re-appropriation of the KTT by the residents themselves. As mentioned earlier, the accommodation were quickly transformed by the residents to increase their living space. And what about today? Can the KTTs experience a second youth? If they remain in place, can they be transformed again by the new generation? The architecture, colors and the atmosphere that emerge from these buildings could attract a young generation searching for new places to express their artistic views. As an example, an architecture professor and his students have refurbished one apartment in Kim Lien's KTT to make it a place for work and training (see Kecho Collective).

If the KTTS appear obsolete in its former socialist spirit, they could be the place for new collective projects with strong artistic potential. The question remains as to whether these KTTs will resist the strong speculative pressure of today...

Let's discover in pictures how these KTTs survive today.