Hanoi's plan for public space around Hoan Kiem Lake

Hanoi authorities have announced plans to demolish one of the most iconic buildings in the city. Ho Guom Plaza at the northern end of Hoan Kiem Lake will be demolished to make more public space at Dong Kinh – Nghia Thuc Square.

The building is known locally as the Shark Jaw building due to its appearance, though I’ve always thought it looked like the back of a cruise ship. Even though it’s not an architecturally historic building, its location ensures that anyone who visits Hanoi knows the building.

The building is home to cafes, restaurants, and shops, and the balconies on the upper levels have the best views of the lake.

My initial reaction when I heard it was being demolished was “NOOOOOO!”.

One of my rituals when I return to Hanoi is to have a coffee in this building. I usually go here on my first morning back so I can overlook the lake while checking my emails.

I’ve seen similar reactions to mine on social media, and Hanoians are now making pilgrimages to the building to pay their last respects to this landmark.

I’ve only ever known Hanoi with this building, so I have come to associate the building as part of the fabric of the Hoan Kiem Lake area. I have since discovered on local forums that it was a controversial and unloved building when it was built.

Trams, a shark jaw, but no opera house

The building is on the site of a former tram depot, which had become redundant after the Hanoi trams went out of service. The Hanoi Tram Company (the manager of the land) built the commercial property in the early nineties.

This reminded me of another former tram depot next to an iconic body of water. The Fort Macquarie Tram Depot was built on Bennelong Point in Sydney. After the original trams of Sydney stopped running, the land was cleared to build the Sydney Opera House.

Hanoi was a different city in the early nineties than it is today, so there was no thought of building an architectural landmark here. Hanoi may have been inspired by Sydney more recently though, as Hanoi is planning to build a world-class opera house next to West Lake.

Perhaps if the Shark Jaw building had been demolished a few years earlier, the West Lake Opera House might have been at Hoan Kiem instead.

More lakeside demolitions for the metro

While the Shark Jaw building has been in the news, there are more demolition plans on the east side of the lake. This is a plan that I have been anticipating as it will be in the area of a future metro station.

Line 2 of the Hanoi Metro will connect the airport to Hoan Kiem District, and Hoan Kiem Station will be on the east side of the lake. The line was approved in 2008, and it has been mired in delays ever since. Part of the problem was that the city couldn’t decide on where in the lake area the underground station should be built.

The most recent update is that Line 2 will begin construction in October 2025, so buildings will need to be demolished to make space for the Hoan Kiem station work site. It makes sense that the city government will use this opportunity to reconfigure the surrounding area during this unavoidable disruption from the metro construction.

Making more public space in a crowded city

Even though I will miss the cafes of the Shark Jaw building, the building is not historic and I don’t mind that it’s being demolished to make way for public space. It’s a rare occurrence in Southeast Asia that a building is demolished to make public space instead of being replaced with a bigger building.

I’ve often wondered how Hanoi could make more space in the city. Hanoi is crammed with apartment blocks in small alleys. I’ve stayed in guesthouses in these alleys, and my first thought has always been about how to get out during a fire. The 2023 apartment fire highlights the need for safer and more accessible buildings.

Hanoi couldn’t go full Haussmann, but the Shark Jaw building is a good precedent for turning a demolished building into a public space. Many dilapidated apartments in Hanoi need to be demolished, so why not use some of the land for public space (as long as residents are fairly compensated and relocated)?

It’s going to be weird to return to Hanoi and not see this building, but I look forward to seeing how the public space around the lake evolves.