Public health in civil architecture planned in Vietnam during the French colonial period: Focused on the project of covered market and elementary school

Throughout the 19th century, public health developed was based on science. The period when public health constituted a project in architecture and urbanism overlapped with the period when the modern movement started to spread from Western Europe. France developed its colony in the latter half of the 19th century. A. Sarraut adopted a policy of assimilation, sharing French culture with the colonies and also emphasising the improvement of sanitation. As a result, the concept of public health in addition to technology and educational systems was brought into the colonies. This study examines how elementary schools and covered markets, planned according to public health concepts in France, were customised taking into account Vietnam's local environment. We identified the standard of public health in France from the documents, and confirmed how it changed in Vietnam, finding that in elementary schools, semi-outdoor corridors and low windows were built to avoid hard sunlight. Covered markets had a similar structure to the Saint-Germain Market in Paris, but the interior was semi-outdoor. Semi-outdoor architectural elements were common to both facilities, suggesting that it was a main method of planning in colonies with hot climates to build hygienic and economical buildings.