Design and Construction Projects for Community
Coordinators: Kerrie Butts and Nilay Mistry
Site: Community next to Thonglor Police Station
INDA Summer 2012
This project enhances a community gathering space for an informal settlement along the Thonglor Police Station in Bangkok. Residents of informal communities, or urban villages, scattered throughout Bangkok provide the city with vital labor and services that support systems of the formal sector. In an upscale retail and entertainment corridor such as Thonglor, several low-income communities are located out of sight only a few meters away. The Thonglor cooperative community that lives on public land can only access their homes through the property owned by the police station. Residents here supplement their income by collecting recyclable materials from area businesses, making use of the excessive waste of adjacent opulence. The community this project engages with has existed for decades in the area but has recently been reduced in size due to the development of a high-rise condominium. On a strip of land only a few meters wide, 43 households negotiate an unclaimed territory between two separate property walls. Cleverly designed homes lean on existing infrastructure and achieve extremely high densities while considering suitable ventilation. Narrow walkways outside of the homes become extensions of interior storage space and facilitate vending throughout the community. Upgrades by residents to the public spaces with salvaged construction material are further signs of ingenuity and pride. This project creates a flexible gathering space for the community to use throughout the day and pronounce a clear entry point to this otherwise obscured community. This space will accommodate afterschool activities for children as well as comfortable seating for community meetings. Given the dark conditions of many of the homes in the community and canyon-like condition created by the taller adjacent buildings, translucent roof panels allow for distributed day lighting. By marking a threshold, this community is proven to exist.
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