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Hanoi is a crowded city, the more people need to settle down, the smaller the buildings become. It can be said that rows of thin tube houses crowded together are a typical landscape in the crowded street corners of the capital.
The images of colorful houses next to each other make foreign tourists curious. Photographer Manan Vatsyayana has taken a series of photos of this architectural style to introduce to readers of the newspaper.The GuardianUK.
Each house is different in design but similar in size, with a width of only about 4 m but a depth of three times that (12 m).
In tube houses, two to three generations share a cramped living space.
The idea of this tube house appeared in the capital of Vietnam since the late 19th century. This was the time when people from rural areas migrated to the city to make a living.
Tran Quoc Bao, a lecturer at the University of Construction, said the design is a space-saving solution in densely populated areas in Hanoi. Over time, while the house area remains unchanged, the height increases.
To this day, the design is still popular and is called "townhouse" by architects.
Quoc Bao emphasized that architecture is one of the city's unique cultural identities, combining traditional and modern values.
The idea of space-saving houses gradually spread and appeared in many crowded neighborhoods in other cities, not only in Hanoi.
