urbanomania-th

023_soft economy

2009-08-28T11:40:00.000-07:00

The completion of sky train and its extensive network of elevated linkways has brought to us a new way of experiencing the city of Bangkok. It is now possible to do mall hopping without touching the street level at all. More and more shopping malls are opening their doors directly to sky train stations with the same goal in mind, to draw in commuters. Informal biz such as street vendor also benefits from this network as its newly found source of income. As I wrote on post no.006_sky shopping in http://urbanomania-id.blogspot.com, this type of business is usually illegal so the so-called product displays must be able to set up within a few minutes and to disappear within a blink of an eye. The characteristic of this kind of commercial establishment is informal, flexible and formless. Existing urban elements are usually improvised as commercial tools. See another interesting example of contextual product display from Singapore on post no.037_the self-organizing economy in http://urban-o-mania.blogspot.com.

022_coloured rice

2009-04-23T06:56:00.000-07:00

Rice is not always white in colour. Poke your senses of taste and perception with these colourful rice grains. The colours, as advertised, are acquired from local herbs and flowers. Good news for all mamas out there, this might be a great tool for dealing with kids that don’t like to eat.

021_politicalisation of urban space

2009-01-17T01:13:00.000-08:00

Bangkok was about to have an election for its new governor during my last trip back home. As a norm, the city was flooded with posters and billboards showing the candidates’ pictures and their supposedly sweet and promising slogans. A candidate could have his propaganda tools as close as a few metres away from each other. It is really phenomenal. The posters are parasitic by their nature. To save cost, they made use of any available vertical urban element as structural support. After each election, good-quality billboards are usually transformed into building materials for the poor in slums. Imagine how nice to have their faces on the bedroom walls and how creepy to have them in the bathroom... Especially, one of the candidates for this election is a popular good-looking local star. I’m quite certain his billboards would be well sought after. (He’s not the guy in the photo though.)

020_stone henge of bangkok

2009-01-11T07:12:00.000-08:00

The Hopewell Project or the Bangkok Elevated Road and Train System (BERTS) was supposed to be a mega public transportation project for Bangkok, an integration of an existing main line railway, a light rail line from the old Don Muang Airport into town, a shopping centre corridor and an elevated highway on top. In 1998, the Thai government cancelled the project leaving the pillars standing with no use at all until today. Read more about Hopewell Project at http://www.2bangkok.com/2bangkok/MassTransit/HopewellMain.shtml. Watch a nice short vdo at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PJfjHc3ErFw.

019_urban room

2008-06-15T02:39:00.000-07:00

If the ideas of 3D city and layering of public spaces we talk about in school are real, then Bangkok is probably the best example. The city has the greatest collection of elevated RC structures featuring pedestrian crossover bridges, elevated highways, sky train tracks, elevated pedestrian link ways, elevated u-turn bridges, etc. Sometimes the applications of these urban repertoires aren’t so appropriate. The insertion of such structures into tight existing urban fabric has constituted a phenomenon which I would like to call it the ‘Urban Room’ – a room surrounded by façade walls, highway ceiling and tarmac carpet. Existing public domains have been interiorised. A certain number of previous connections are cut off making them perfect sites for the emergence of temporary/informal programs. I once attempted to explore this condition in my entry for the Shinkenchiku Residential Design Competition back in the year 2001. The judge, Winy Maas of MVRDV, was kind enough to show his interest in my scheme. The proposal was featured in the following media - Japan Architect no.44 p.113 (Japan), Art4d no.85 pp.28-30 (Thailand) and MVRDV KM3 / Excursions on Capacities p.469 (EU). Please check it out if you have any of these in your possession.

018_intelligent traffic sign

2008-06-07T04:48:00.000-07:00

‘Shouldn’t have taken this road’ must be one of the most common thoughts that pops up in people’s mind when they get stuck in traffic. Wouldn’t it be nice to know in advance which routes to avoid? With that concept in mind the city of Bangkok is proud to present the Intelligent Traffic Sign (as seen on TV). As it is different form Space Syntax diagram, red colour doesn’t refer to high connectivity but, instead, high density of vehicles. It’s a wonderful attempt to lessen the traffic problem. The graphic design makes it a bit difficult to relate the road’s names to the lines but it’s forgivable given the fact that the jam is so bad that drivers have more than enough time to figure it out.

017_no valet parking

2007-05-12T23:10:00.000-07:00

A part of strategies to mitigate the traffic problem is to encourage people using public transportations. Large parking spaces are provided at every major sky train stations to support the idea. It is an interchange of transportation modes from private to public. Cars will be parked here early in the morning and collected at the end of the day. It is quite amazing to see how people manage this without valet parking service.

016_size does not matter

2007-03-31T06:03:00.000-07:00

Siam Square is well known for a must-go shopping stop in Bangkok, equivalent to Harajuku in Japan, maybe. The turnover rate of tenants is high. You may not find the same shop at a particular spot on your next visit. Making appointment by using a small shop as a landmark is not practical for this area if you don’t go there often enough. The shop could be gone at anytime. Whatever kind of space available is valuable as long as it’s accessible by public and people just don’t really care about decoration & display if the products are interesting. Some shops are so small that the space is barely enough for the owner and the goods. Public domain then becomes extended part of the shop where transactions take place.

015_fitted / unfitted 01

2007-03-31T05:32:00.000-07:00

Developments in Bangkok are haphazard. The lack of planning and coordination usually results in untidy, sometimes dangerous, urban landscape. In this case (see the picture), it’s hard to tell which one came first, the cables or the flyover. It’s like a question of chicken and egg. The existing pedestrian bridge might be too tall for the running of cable lines fixed at their standard height, or, the bridge, without a proper site survey conducted prior to construction, ended up conflict with the existing cables.

014_delta buildings

2006-09-23T11:30:00.000-07:00

The current urban structure of Bangkok city has derived from existing agricultural parcels and waterways in the past. Canals were filled up and layered with tarmac and rice fields were converted to plots of land, hence the urban pattern locally followed the green and blue structures. Elevated expressways, with a major reason to connect from point A to B as fast as possible, usually don’t respect this urban configuration. In most cases, after the demolition of existing buildings, the plots are leftover in either triangular or trapezium shape. To maximise the profit, developers have no choice but to build in those funky shapes.

013_parasitic program 02

2006-09-23T02:17:00.000-07:00

The removal of structures leaves some scars on neighbouring buildings. Temporary structures occupy the empty plots after the buildings were evacuated and these newcomers may not necessary be the same dudes as the owners of the plots.

012_parasitic program 01

2006-09-23T02:15:00.000-07:00

Some demolished buildings are intruded by homeless people. Deteriorated building skeleton is modified. Temporary shelters are set up.

011_face lifting

2006-09-23T02:14:00.000-07:00

During the period of expressway construction some buildings persist not to move out. Later they were partly destroyed. Half of the building was gone and the space was shrunken. New facades need to be built and, again, this incident results in rearrangement of programs inside the building.

010_back to front

2006-09-23T02:13:00.000-07:00

To me, this photo is really interesting. Parts of a continuous neighbourhood fabric (some scholars call it mat-urbanism) are removed by the expressway construction. Buildings that once were inside are now being exposed. Back elevations have become front façades. Back doors have turned into main entrances.

009_program chopper

2006-09-23T02:10:00.000-07:00

When constructing an elevated expressway, a setback line needs to be set, virtually if not legally. To insert this mega structure into existing tight urban fabric, we have to clear some space for the construction and the machinery. Some buildings along the line of construction are lucky enough not to be fully demolished, but still, not that fortunate to avoid partial destruction. As some parts of the building are missing, it is inevitable that the leftover programs inside need to be re-planned. Look at the picture. It shows that this shop house used to have bathrooms on the 1st & 3rd floors. See the blue tiles on the wall? And if you are superstitious like the owner of the building next door, you may need to add some extra feature on your façade.

008_2400x4800 ?

2006-08-13T02:37:00.000-07:00

If you own a piece of land right in the city center of Bangkok and do not have any idea what to do with it or no capital to invest yet, you could easily start making money while waiting by turning it into parking lots. Parking space is always in demand. Temporary and illegal parking can be found all over the city. Most of the time it happens under the new open space created by elevated expressways. The existing circulations of the neighborhood are erased by the monstrous structure. Paths and directions are unclear and rerouted everyday as these cars randomly occupy the space. This is an example to show that a size of parking lot may not need to be 2.4 by 4.8 meters. Whatever architectural standard would be thrown out of the window when it comes to necessity.

007_community center

2006-08-13T02:05:00.000-07:00

When an urban superstructure cuts through a neighborhood, theoretically speaking, it physically breaks the neighborhood’s entity into 2 parts. But, in reality, it helps loosen up the tight built-up surface of the community. Space underneath the mega structure is commonly used as neighborhood’s communal area. Want to have a BBQ this weekend? Please RSVP early and BYOB!

006_concrete park

2006-08-13T01:52:00.000-07:00

With a little effort and time invested on observation, interesting patterns of the space’s adaptive reuses reveal. First, in the morning, homeless people staying overnight occupied the area. Then, in the afternoon while the sun was blocked by the expressway above, the space turned into a playground. The type of sports and the area used were limited under the shade. Homeless moved further to the far end. Finally, in the evening after working hours, the number of participant increased and the activities continued till late at night because of the freedom of playing without getting conflict with traffic.

005_terrain vague

2006-08-13T01:45:00.000-07:00

The space underneath expressway is terrain vague. It is open, vast and empty, an untamed urban landscape welcoming all possibilities to take place. The new programs emerge here are usually temporary, haphazard and heavily dependent on their surrounding context.

004_ghost building

2006-07-02T05:56:00.000-07:00

Nothing beats construction of superstructure when it comes to disaster on urban fabric, especially in Bangkok, a city where daily transportation heavily relies on private vehicles and whose authorities believe that building expressway is the answer to traffic problem. Buildings are torn down to give way to the structure and machineries used during construction process. In most cases, they are destroyed only half way or less, just enough to proceed the rushing construction. Some of the leftover structures are kept and new facades are built to reuse the spaces. Some are abandoned to be 'ghost buildings'.

003_urban cracks

2006-07-02T05:54:00.000-07:00

In general, when you want to construct something near this kind of massive infrastructure, a certain setback distance is required. How about the other way around? Is there any regulation on the setback of the new structure from existing buildings? In Bangkok, the insertion of superstructures into existing urban space is driven by necessity. In many cases, the existing space is just simply too tight to talk about noise pollution or aesthetic.

002_the nether-city

2006-07-02T05:52:00.000-07:00

Elevated expressway is believed to be a solution to traffic problem as it gets you from one point to the other faster. But the solution has been proved failure. Cars from the city’s periphery can move toward the city center faster while the number of cars at the center, at a particular moment, doesn’t decrease. Moreover, the gigantic size of these superstructures has caused difference in scale comparing to the size of local buildings. As more and more of these structures are, and will be, built, a new uninhabited urban layer is created over existing neighborhoods.

001_thick flow

2006-07-02T05:50:00.000-07:00

Bangkok is well known for its traffic condition. Inhabitants are in favor of private transportation. The amount of new cars keeps increasing everyday. With the registration number of new vehicle at about 1,000 cars a day (It was recorded as 1,220 cars/day in 1996) and the density ratio of road in length per area at only 2.55 km./ sq.km, no doubt Bangkok is brought to the forefront on the chart of world’s cities with serious traffic problem.