SHOP/VEND : reconciling the future of (in)formal exchange in Saigon's public market

Abstract

At the heart of downtown Ho Chi Minh City, the bustling Ben Thanh market is where vendors have come to sell their wares since the 17th century, and where throngs of locals and tourists alike come to buy, eat, and engage in general exchange and consumption. This marketplace and its vendor population have been instrumental in shaping the form of the surrounding urban structure and patterns of life, as well as the nature of the shopping and tourist experience in Vietnam under the guise of 'culture'. With four solid walls erected that define the interior and exterior of the Ben Thanh Market, the existing French colonial building acts as a fortress -- a spatial construct of exclusion that prevents the potentially fruitful intermingling and reconciliation of the formal shop owner with the informal street vendor. This thesis analyzes the condition of both the shop owner and street vendor in Vietnam, and proposes a platform for exchange while reconceptualizing Ben Thanh as a new hybrid experience of modern shopping and traditional marketplace in the context of other public markets around the world. Rethinking boundaries, edges, and cultural notions of space, this project delves into the relationships between body, street, and vending furniture as the inspirational instigators for bringing together the formal and the informal.