Meinhard von Gerkan, who previously designed the Vietnamese National Assembly building, was assigned to design the National Convention Center. Four designs were presented for consideration in April 2004. In the end, a design called "Surfing the East Sea" was unanimously chosen as the official design of the project by a panel of 31 Vietnamese architects.[2]
The project received government approval on October 25, 2004, and construction started on November 15 the same year. On October 15, 2006, the Vietnam National Convention Center was inaugurated.[2]
Architecture
The design of the center takes inspirations from Hạ Long Bay, a World Heritage Site in Quảng Ninh Province, Vietnam. The building's wave-shaped roof is made from steel, heightened to 53.25 m (174.7 ft) over the main meeting hall. The main structure has a dimension of 215.25 m (706.2 ft) in length and 113.5 m (372 ft) in width.[3]
Facilities
National Convention Center is the largest convention center in Vietnam by area, covering an area of 64 ha (160 acres). This complex includes a public square, a helipad, an on-ground and underground parking lot of 1,100 parking spaces, residential area and landscaping features. The core convention center itself has a gross floor space of 65,000 m2 (700,000 sq ft). It is equipped with solar power panels as a back-up energy source.[2]
15,000 m2 (160,000 sq ft) exhibition space
Banquet Hall, accommodating up to 1,800 people, 2,000 m2 (22,000 sq ft)[4]
Main Meeting Hall, 3,747 seats with a divider for a smaller configuration, 4,256 m2 (45,810 sq ft)[5]
Many entertainment and exhibition events were also held at NCC. Multiple international artists including Girls' Generation, 2NE1, Boys Like Girls, Kenny G, Kelly Rowland or Lenka have performed here as well as Kinderworld (SIS@Gamuda, SIS@CIPUTRA, SIS@VanPHUC), the only school in Hanoi to have performed at a major convention hall with a capacity larger than 3,000.
