Hommel Beer Factory
BIA HOI CULTURE'S ORIGIN: FROM A COLONICAL DRINKING TO A CULTURE OF URBAN DWELLERS
Introduction
Before the French colonization, Vietnam had a long history of rice alcohol production. The beer industry was created in 1892 by Alfred Hommel, founder of Hommel Brewery (Brasserie Hommel) in Hanoi. Along with the Larue Brewery (Brasserie Larue) in Saigon, the Hommel Brewery was one of the two biggest breweries in Indochina.
Beer was the drink that seemed most suitable in the Indochina climate. At first, beer was mainly consumed by the French, then it became more and more popular with local Vietnamese people.
Besides water, the ingredients used by the Hommel Brewery were malted barley and hops imported from Europe and a proportion of rice (preferably denitrogenated). The difficulty was not in the purchase of ingredients of first quality, but in purifying water used, acquiring expensive brewing equipment, and adapting it to the hot and humid climate of Hanoi. Another challenge for the production of bottled beer was transportation. The brewery came up with the idea of producing a draft beer called bia hoi sold in kegs instead of bottles. Over time, bia hoi became a staple of Vietnamese culture and it remains so to this day.
Name: Brasserie Hommel / Société de la Brasserie Hommel / Société des Brasseries et Glacières de l'Indochine / Hanoi Brewery / Hanoi Brewery Company / Hanoi Beer-Alcohol-Beverage Corporation (Habeco)
Location: 183 Hoang Hoa Tham, Ha Noi
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Chronological timeline
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Agents
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Investigations
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Architectural and Urban preliminary assessment
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Perspective / Thematic / Narrative point of view
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Bibliography
Ad hoc Talk 01: Circulative Mapping
Co-organized by Ha Noi Ad Hoc and RMIT-Vietnam, with technical support from UNESCO and Université de Montréal, this open course will explore the cartograsphic possibilities of geographic information systems (GIS) to visualize the flow of material in space across continents. The lecture features two speakers: Stanislas Turcon (architect, London, UK) and Thomas Lacour-Veyranne (architect-urbanist, Paris, France) who recently produced innovative mapping investigations. Event will be in English.
Stanislas Turcon is an architect based in London. Graduated from Ecole Supérieure d'architecture Paris - Val de Seine and the Architectural Association under the tutelage of A-S. Ronnskog and J. Palmesino (Territorial Agency), he has worked extensively in France, Beijing, Bulgaria, Lebanon and the UK.
Stanislas is currently working with Sir David Adjaye at the London office of ADJAYE associates. He has participated in a series of Architectural Association Visiting Schools, among them Shin Egashira's school in Koshirakura and Tokyo (in association with Geidai Tokyo university of the art) and Brendon Carlin's school in Okinawa and Ho Chi Minh City.
Spanning across the realms of film, drawing, photography, music, theater, and play, Stanislas’ interdisciplinary work explored the real and the dimensional nature of life.
He is also a co-founder of AAgora, a multi-disciplinary discussion platform, dealing with issues facing contemporary architectural practice at the AA.
Thomas Lacour-Veyranne has worked as a professional architect & urban planner since 2006. He is developing his skills in the design of public spaces.
His recent assignments in the Middle East (Bahrain, UAE, KSA) and Asia (India, Vietnam, Cambodia), have enabled him to take up the challenge of planning and designing sustainable cities in regions with a constrained climate and rapid large-scale growth.
Based on these experiences, he has been able to develop a multidisciplinary and holistic vision of urban scales, from the metropolitan territory to the building scale.
Interested in different typologies of architecture, traditional or contemporary, he tries to discern the steps of their creative process, always seeking to gain an insight into the world cultures and populations he is still learning to discover.