Lots of ideas
The contest "Design ideas for pedestrian bridge over the Ho Citadel connecting the Upper Citadel" is organized by Hue Monuments Conservation Center to seek unique and creative ideas from designers and architects, create an architecture suitable for the heritage space and solve the urban traffic congestion at Cua Ngan, ensure safety and convenience for tourists, and create a unique architectural attraction.
This is the first step to implement Conclusion No. 47/TB-UBND dated February 15, 2 by Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee Nguyen Van Phuong on assigning the Hue Monuments Conservation Center to chair and coordinate with the City People's Committee. Hue and related agencies and units study and propose plans for site clearance and investment in expanding the road connecting traffic for pedestrians from Nguyen Hoang bus station to Tran Huy Lieu street and the river bridge over the Upper Citadel to enter the Citadel.
After a month of launching, the contest received 64 options from 59 authors and groups of authors with many unique ideas, expressing their enthusiasm and love for heritage, wanting to create a highlight but limit the impact on the heritage space.
Mr. Nguyen Van Cao, Chairman of Thua Thien Hue Construction Association, member of the jury said: “In a short time, 64 options are no small efforts. All ideas want to come up with the best solutions. Many very good ideas, research from routes, materials, methods, Law on Cultural Heritage... to come up with a suitable and feasible plan. Good ideas but conflicts with the heritage, affecting the heritage are not selected.”
Preservation and development
Hoang Viet Trung, director of the Hue Monuments Conservation Center, said that as a tourist attraction attracting many delegations to Hue, the circulation in the Citadel area is still inadequate. Space to access heritage is very limited. The increasing number of vehicles in traffic leads to congestion, affecting tourism activities when tourists have to travel with a large number of vehicles on narrow aisles. In the near future, it is expected that the number of visitors to Hue will be over 5 million people, if there is no synchronous solution, there will be conflicts, which will adversely affect the image of Hue tourism. Therefore, it is necessary to find solutions for tourists to access the heritage conveniently and safely.
According to Mr. Nguyen Van Cao, from 5-7 years ago, the authorities have researched and found many solutions to solve the problem of traffic jams in Cua Ban, with many options: traffic separation, tourists traveling by motor vehicle, building a bridge to cross... but it could not be done. "Any plan must serve the most convenience for tourists, serve the local people and do not affect the heritage," Mr. Cao emphasized.
An architect living in the inner Citadel expressed: “In the past, the people in the city were very miserable. Every time I get out of work, it's time to pick up my children to go through Cua Ban, often traffic jams, congestion, while living standards are getting higher and higher, the number of cars is increasing. Welcoming Hue to have the idea of making this bridge, because architecture is also about serving people."
Journalist Pham Huu Thu, a citizen of the Citadel shared: "We live in the heritage but we can't do whatever we want, it's the people's disadvantage. This work, if it can be done, is extremely humane, first of all, improving traffic for people and tourists safely. The problem is that the provincial leaders have ideas and strictly follow the provisions of the Law on Cultural Heritage."
Careful, scientific
From this competition, what many people are interested in is whether the construction of a pedestrian bridge over the Ho Citadel connecting the Upper Citadel will affect the heritage? Some comments expressed concern that building a bridge at this location would violate the convention of heritage protection. Historically, the German city of Dresden was removed from the world heritage list in 2009 when the construction of a bridge over the Elbe river was carried out, although UNESCO had previously disagreed.
The location of the bridge is in area 1 of the relic. According to the Law on Cultural Heritage, this area must be preserved in its original state and space. In special cases where it is necessary to build works directly serving the relic, the approval of the competent authority to recognize the relic must be obtained. For the Complex of Hue Monuments, it is necessary to obtain the approval of the Prime Minister (special national monument) and UNESCO (world heritage).
Before organizing the contest, Hue Monuments Conservation Center carefully studied similar cases around the world. “In fact, heritage buildings for hundreds of years and thousands of years are faced with real-life requirements that require adaptive solutions. Many countries, such as: China, Singapore, Malaysia, and France have implemented walking approaches to access and not affect the heritage. The Law on Cultural Heritage clearly states that you can still do works to protect and promote heritage values, but you must do it right," said Director of Hue Monuments Conservation Center Hoang Viet Trung.
From this contest, the organizers will select the most feasible ideas that are in line with the regulations on heritage conservation; at the same time, synthesize and make statistics of all reviews, including comments on social networks, to report to the authorities. The implementation of restoration, conservation and construction related to the heritage is very strictly regulated, carried out in order with the approval of the competent authorities. To realize the idea of becoming a traffic work to be put into use, there are many processes and must be agreed upon by management levels, UNESCO as well as the social community.
Hoang Viet Trung said: “From idea to reality is a long story with a lot of methodical, scientific and careful processes. Through this story, we also want to send a message about the practical issues of people's daily life to the authorities in charge of heritage management, including UNESCO. UNESCO is not a rigid organization but very humane, all for people. We suggest, if you don't agree, don't do it. We look forward to continuing to receive contributions from the social community.”
The story of resolving the conflict between meeting development needs and preserving heritage has never been easy. Even this contest for ideas is difficult. However, this is the first step in finding the most optimal solution to solve the traffic problem at Cua Ban in the correct order.
