BANGKOK REMADE

BANGKOK REMADE will advance alternative futures for the capital city of Thailand. The studio subtitled ‘Design to Enhance Social Dignity, Climate Resilience and Inspire the Nation’s Imagination in the Contemporary Thai Landscape’ will engage with environmental engineering, flood control and land equity as a source of pragmatic landscape design ideas and tools to understand and reimagine this delta occupied by industry and dense settlements yet, in part, also derelict, polluted and in climate crisis. In addition, the ambition of the studio is to also inspire through design the Nation’s imagination about this contrary yet vibrant Thai landscape.

The study area is situated in the Chao Phraya River Delta, and is characterized as a flat low-lying plain and forms a vast water holding and dispersion area, which once served as a resource for defense and rice cultivation. A particular studio focus will be the former port facility of Khlong Toei and the broader districts along the main artery of the Chao Phraya.

Class members working individually or in teams will design innovative solutions for existing conditions in Bangkok’s overcrowded districts by the Chao Phraya River using small scale test proposals as ‘acupuncture’ replicable across the natural and built landscape. Students will shape a landscape design language from schematic concepts to specific site details- for water detention and control that will encompass flooding and drought mitigation, brownfield reclamation, the disposal or reuse of municipal waste and the reconstruction or reinvention of landscape infrastructure, informal settlements, land sharing and public space using the themes of ‘equity’ ‘permeability’ and ‘beauty’ within the context and traditions of Bangkok’s natural and built fabric.

A sponsored field trip to Thailand will take place in early February when students will engage with experts on the Chao Phraya and collaborate with local informal settlements and environmental organizations as well as representatives of city leadership. A further visit will take place to NYC in March to participate in the United Nations 2023 International Water Workshop. Final documentation of class projects will be assembled as a document and a traveling exhibition. The studio is open to students in landscape degree programs.