Civic Center Design : Thai Vernacular

CIVIC CENTER DESIGN : THAI VERNACULAR

Civic Center : Thai Vernacular Chinnakrit Chommanee, Natthakit Skulmalaithong, Chanatip Vitayalertpanya, Koki Yoshimoto ARC343 Architecture Design Studio III Semester 1/2021 Instructor: Elliott Voth School of Architecture and Design -KMUTT

THAI VERNACULAR

Project Description According to the Thai- house zones, all functions are separately arranged to identify the sense of Hong-non modules. The welcoming area consists of the BMA offices and commercial area. The main part comprises a community center(main bedroom in Thai-house arrangement)at the south, library(sub-bedroom) at the north, and daycare center at the west. The BMA building, the main building consisting of offices and a community center, also has a big void separating the two big functions to provide a wind channel as well as being the visual framework to the library. The service zone includes the service and mechanical rooms as well as the parking area.

Chan(ชาน) is put in the middle to link all buildings together, providing a versatile and flexible space, and being the distributed area for users. It has a void at the middle with a Pavillion to mimic the central gathering space of Thai house as well as allow sunlight to go to the shaded Taithun(ใตตถน ถ ) area as well.

There is also an integration of a pocket park at the top of the BMA building and library to create a big usable Chongmeawlod(ชชองแมวลอด) for ventilation and relaxation to users.

Chan, Thurnt, and Hongnon as a uniquely Thai element

Thai houses have a distinct silhouette where there is a various arrangement of Chan space and Hongnon with the influence of site surroundings, wind direction, primary and secondary access, sun shading, as well as zoning order according to usages. The zoning arrangement of Thai house design can be broken down into many categories which we decided to use the one that comprises Chan, Thurnt, and Hongnon, which can be translated to outdoor terrace, semi-outdoor terrace, and rooms respectively. Moreover, there is also the integration of Taithun(ใตตถถน) and Chongmeawlod(ชชองแมวลอด) to encourage the ventilation property throughout the building.

The zoning of the traditional house can be separated into 3 parts starting from the east: welcoming area at the front, main living area at the middle, and service area at the west linking to the service entrance of the house. The biggest modules(Hongnon) are often put on the south to provide shading in the afternoon for the Chan area.

ANALYSIS

The civic center in Makkasan is placed at a key location where many activities coincide. It is generally known to be a transitional hub of Bangkok, linking from Suvarnabhumi airport to the center of the city, and is one of the few areas where there is a high proportion of greenery and a good coefficient of build-up area.

The surrounding facilities include • South: Makkasan ARL station, schools, a church, the tourism authority of Thailand • West: Underdeveloped Makkasan green area, Makkasan factory • North: Sirat expressway • East: Life Asoke Condominium, Singha complex, expressway authority of Thailand

The plan shows the important modes of access for users to the site, such as car access from AsokaDindaeng road, at the east, Kampangpetch7 road, and Petchburi road at the south, and Sirat expressway on the north, as well as MRT and ARL as the nearby public transportation.

Sun Orientation: East-South-West with the shade from • Life Asoke at late • Makkasan ARL station in the afternoon Note: The north facade can give the best view as well as not being directly hit by the sun.

Ventilation: From the south and southeast through underneath the Makkasan ARL station Our proposal of the civic center identifies : • Contemporary transformation of Thai vernacular design • Symbiotic integration with the site • The solution to a non-destructive development of the region • Sustainable design

The possible users categorized by social types include • local people from the north community • taxi motorbikes • elderly • people with disabilities • students and teachers from the schools • tourists from Suvarnabhumi airport • office workers from nearby offices • monks, imams, and priests from religious buildings • Doctors and patients from a nearby hospital • mechanics, janitors, and staff as the future users • wildlife animals(birds, dogs) Also, users can be categorized by age: • Teenagers: study and work for 10 hours, then rest • Adults: working for 8 hours then rest • Elderly: some work for 4-8 hours, some retire, depending on the family income of the users

Possible activities in the future: • Protesting: since this will be the new center of attention for Bangkok, therefore there might be protestors coming to this building.

• Homeless: this building will be opened 24/7 therefore there might be some homeless living in this area.

• Food vendors: in the markets that can possibly be held in this area.

CONCEPT and conceptual model

Design concept: Chan, Thurnt, and Hongnon and the arrangement of Thai house Chan, Thurnt, and Hongnon (as well as Taithun) are arranged together to achieve 1 Thai house. Hongnons are separated into modules in which they are connected by the use of Chan and Thurnt. This arrangement provides the hierarchy of space in which can create different perceptions of nature and the surrounding environment from different height levels of perceiving.

The Thai house zoning; welcoming, main, service area, also brings the sense of residence for resting to users and gives them different degrees of privacy as well as the sequence of space from welcoming to the main area and then ends with the service zone.

PLANS

The front plaza is located on the southeast to provide pedestrian access for people from the Makkasan station to the main stair and ramp as well as people from the east drop-off area to enter the building. It provides a big, outdoor, and easy-accessible space for flexible activities and events such as protesting and local markets.

We also provide drop-off areas on the west to accommodate the service usage as well as the future plan of BKK that there will be high rise buildings which will allow users to come from the west to our building as well. These elements mimic the transitional space for people before going into the building, similar to the stair area of Thai traditional houses.

The Chan area also acts as a semi-landscape space where is a gathering and distributing spot for users from and to the buildings. It gives the sense of a semi-private park transitioned to the inner chan on the north. The extended chan at the north(above the parking lot) also provides a softscape that gives more sense of privacy and calmness to the users compared to the front plaza and the main Chan in the middle.

The trees are planted along the road as a visually guiding path for cars while preserving the greenery of the site not to be disturbed by the new building. Moreover, there are also pocket parks on the buildings to provide a small landscape for users to relax after doing their activities without needing to go down to the ground floor.

The landscape gives a relaxed atmosphere that helps to improve the user’s mental health, together with the hierarchy of space can give the various perceptions to users without being bored from the same scenery.

The intention of designing the ground floor is to create an accessible, ventilated, and roamingfree environment to create a semi-outdoor area that serves certain types of activities eg, markets, and small events.

Therefore, this floor only has some functions as a welcoming area for users. There are the small and medium retail areas and the BMA information center and art gallery to welcome them in the east and the CCTV room and BAS control room on the west as a service area. Other than that, it is the free space as a semi-open park underneath the chan for flexible usage.

The entering stairs and elevators are distributedly put on the ground floor of every module to achieve easy accessibility for all users including the elderly and people with disabilities.

ZONING ARRANGEMENT

The buildings are separated into 5 modules, arranging into 3 zones: • Welcoming zone: BMA office, and commercial building on the east side • Main zone: library, and daycare area, and community center (especially the BMA and community zone which is put on the south to emphasize the importance of space similar to the position of the master bedroom on the south of Thai house arrangement) • Service zone: mechanical, and parking lot on the west side

BUILDING ENVELOPE

Material for the exterior envelope: • timber lath for overhanging roof facade.

• glass wall for exposing area, eg. commercial area and library • reinforced concrete wall

The correspondence of building envelope to the environmental factors of the site: • The north facade is mostly covered with glass walls to receive the view and allow sunlight to go through the building.

• The east facade is also covered with glass walls to provide a welcoming atmosphere as well as the interaction between interior and exterior users. Moreover, since the sun will orbit to the west in the afternoon, therefore this part is not directly hit by sunlight during that time.

• The west facade is partly solid wall and partly glass wall to allow some sunlight to go to the building because, in the early afternoon, the sun orbits at a small degree to the south therefore this facade is also covered with timber lath roof for shading as well.

• The west is mostly covered by the solid wall to block the afternoon sunlight that can penetrate into the building.

STRUCTURAL ASPECT

Structural system: • Slab on beam(at the buildings) • Waffle slab on column (for Chan) Special structural feature: Shear wall structure at the elevator and stair core to help the building resist the lateral load from the wind

Materials: • Precast concrete slab on the building: 10 cm thickness • Wide flange steel beam: 40 cm thickness • Waffle slab for the Chan: 60cm waffle slab to get the long span and also having ribs similar to timber beams in Thai house • Concrete capital: 50cm thickness (equal to waffle-slab rib thickness) to resist the shear failure between columns and waffle slab • Reinforced concrete columns : 80cm diameter for building (9m span), 45cm diameter for Chan(12m span) • cast-in-situ pile foundation (bored pile): long until meet the stiff soil (needs to be check by digging or scanning into the soil) / all piles need to be in the same length to prevent the settlement failure to the structure/pile foundation because of the property of soi in Bangkok (soft soil) • Timber lath overhanging roof facade: to provide shade to the interior as well as giving the visual sense of Thai house to the building.