Klong Toey Community Lantern, Bangkok Thailand
The area becomes full of live and activity as soon as school is over for the day.
Often question ourselves studying a professional course and hopefully to become a professional somebody in the future, what can we do to change the world? Sadly to see, most of the people is still thinking about what can their professions can do for them instead what their profession can do for the world or community. I still remember in Semester 2, my tech lecturer asked us: Why did you choose architecture? My answer at that very moment was: To make a difference for human, for our community. So how, throughout the semesters, I seems to have lost that passionate “me”.
To be recalled to this topic of “What architecture can do for humanity or community”, I felt it is really important for not only me but more of the present and future architects to be concerning and take into their design goal.
When the night fall, the "Lantern" is on.
I came across this project done by TYIN tegnestue Architects, named Klong Toey Community Lantern in the Klong Toey district of Bangkok. Klong Toey is currently the largest and oldest areas of informal dwellings in Bangkok. More than 140.000 people is estimated to live here, and most are living in sub-standard houses with few or no tenure rights or support from the government. The area has great social challenges mostly due to the lack of public services like healthcare, affordable education, sanitation and electricity. An extensive drug problem greatly affects the social climate followed by high unemployment rates, violence and crime.
TYIN tegnestue Architects has decided to design a football court and a public playground for the kids and even adults in the community. In addition to the main function, this design also serves as a community space for the local community where they can gather and share their challenges that they’re going through or even been through. This project is to hopefully bring positive energy and change to the suffering community in a long term strategy.
One of the local architect involved in the project asking what kind of football court the children hope to have.
Children involved in the preparation of the foundation for the metal fence.
Children involve in the construction of the structure.
Now, you might be thinking: LONG TERM STRATEGY? Then when will it ever show the effects on the community? Months? Years? Or even decades? To be honest, I thought that too when I was reading the related article. However, when I watched the video on Youtube, believe it or not, I do think it is happening to make a change. Children in the neighborhood came to help to see the building of the structure and eventually help building it. I can imagine if I was one of the child involved, I must be very in love with this space because I build it too. ;) It eventually changes the heart and the thinking of the children involved to be proud of their hard work and being happy using the facilities.
Community Lantern Process
Children can play and watch football.
The space is designed not only to play football or playground for the children but also facilities for teenagers and adults to come and sit down for a while, looking around relaxing yourself after a harsh day and gather with your friends and family to have some talk or fun. The design of the structure is a combination of many basic ideas and concepts, and embodies several of the features lacking in the area including new hoops for basketball, a stage for performances or public meetings, walls for climbing and seating both inside and around the edges of the playground.
The structure encourages different ways of playing.
Parents can watch over children when they play.
The main construction´s simplicity, repetitive logic and durability enables the local inhabitants to make adaptations that fit with their changing needs without endangering the projects structural strength or the general useability of the playground. This way the project runs in parallel with the ever changing surroundings and fits with the idea that the project could be part of a larger call for a more sustainable development in the Klong Toey area.
What attracted me the most wasn’t really the project only but more of the architects involved. TYIN tegnestue Architects is led by Andreas G. Gjertsen and Yashar Hanstad, principals of the architecture cooperative. These two young architects and other young and passionate architects has contributed a lot to humanity and to the built environment through the art of architecture in Africa and Asia. It is what we should learn from them that even you are still inexperience, never be afraid of what you decided to do and to learn in the process of failure.
