After a lot of
delays, the project on Lotus Hotel, which will be a super 6-star hotel in Hanoi worth one billion
dollars, has been assigned to Kinh Bac Urban Development Corporation KBC, and
the project will be kicked off soon. The hotel is expected to have the height
of 400 meters and become the tallest building in Vietnam.

The hard lot

Being a
superb project with a very large scale, the project was initially expected to
be completed in 2010, on the occasion of the 1000^th anniversary of
Thang Long-Hanoi. However, the Lotus Hotel project, located in Me Tri commune
in Tu Liem district in Hanoi,
has many times “failed to keep appointments”.

While other
projects “of the same generation” with Lotus Hotel, like Keangnam Hanoi
Landmark Tower and Grand Plaza, have nearly been completed and they are going
to be put into operation in some days, Lotus Hotel project’s construction has
not been started yet.

In early
2009, Japanese Riviera Group, which won the right to develop the project after
great efforts of lobbying, sent a document to the Hanoi’s authorities, informing the intention
to give up the project due to financial problems. Right after the information
was released a lot of domestic investors had applied for becoming the
developers of the project.

Finally,
KBC won the race, obtaining the right to run the project with the estimated
investment capital of 500 million dollars. Hanoians hope that the super hotel
will be a gigantic architecture work to be proud of in the future.

According
to the Hanoi Planning and Architecture Council, the world’s leading
architecture consultant Foster & Partners has been chosen by KBC for the
project.

Foster
& Partners asked 12 designers from 12 different countries to draw up 24
architecture solutions, and has selected two of the solutions. Of these, the
architecture solution with the rice grain-shape (solution B) has been favored
by the investor, because the image of rice grain has been associated with
Vietnamese wet rice civilization. Also, rice grain also symbolizes prosperity.

The design
work has also satisfied the investor especially, because it pays special
attention to the environment with hanging gardens to be located on all floors
of the building, with solutions to save energy, prevent and fight fires. The
building will have the main view to the National Convention Center
and Pham Hung Road.

The ridge of Vietnam

The height
of the building is one of the most attractive factors of the building. If
solution B is chosen as expected, the building with have a record height of 400
meters, which is even higher than Keangnam’s building, located on the other
side of Pham Hung Road.

There are
two contradictory opinions about the height of the project. The first group of
people believes that it is not necessary to set a limit on the height of the
building, because any limitation would spoil the significance of the
rice-grain. Lotus hotel is hoped to be a super project which creates a new
architecture symbol in the new development stage. The people also believe that
the two high rise buildings in the region will in no way affect the “nucleus
work” – the national convention center.

Meanwhile,
other people, though highly appreciating the design and the functions of the
work, still raise some worries. The large scale of the work may put a pressure
on the technical infrastructure and social infrastructure.

Most
recently, the Ministry of Construction has officially declared its opinion that
the construction of high rise and modern buildings on the North Thang Long –
Noi Bai, Pham Van Dong and Pham Hung roads is suitable to the overall plan on
the capital city development by 2030.

If Lotus
Hotel really has the height of 400 meters, it will become the tallest building
in Vietnam.
The tallest building now is Keangnam
Hanoi Landmark
Tower with 70 stories and
the height of 336 meters.

The two
other high rise buildings would be VietinBank
Tower, 362 meters, 68 stories (the
construction was kicked off in October 2010) and PVN Tower,
79 stories which has not been started yet.

Doanh Nhan