LookAtVietnam – Winners of a Viet Nam Association of Architecture contest to collect urban plans for Hoan Kiem Lake and the surrounding area were awarded their prizes on Monday.

Leaning tower: Hoan Kiem Lake was the focus of architectural designs in a contest launched by the Viet Nam Association of Architecture.

The contest opened last June, and entries were received from 20 architecture firms. Ten plans were selected for the final round, five of which were from Vietnamese organisations.

Contestants were asked to come up with a design for a 63.8ha urban area, of which 16.23ha belongs to the lake and its surrounding park.

No first prize was granted, but two second place prizes worth US$30,000 were granted to the firms Nikken, Sekkei Civil Engineering Ltd (Japan) and 1 +1 > 2 Group (Viet Nam - Italy). The third place prize worth $20,000 was awarded to Mqlpau and Partners (Viet Nam - Germany).

Also on Monday in honour of World Architecture Day, the association launched another architecture contest titled “For Ha Noi Capital Today and Tomorrow” to celebrate the 1,000th anniversary of Thang Long-Ha Noi next year.

This new contest requires contestants to complete two tasks. The first is to design a new work such as a park, monument, statue or to make a plan on restoring an existing work.

The second task is to make a plan for turning the street which connects Hang Khay and Trang Tien streets and the Ha Noi Opera House into a spot for tourism and trade.

Entries for this contest must be submitted by January 15.

VietNamNet/Viet Nam News