Participatory architecture – TYIN in Bangkok

TYIN Tegnestue is the architectural practice run by Andreas G. Gjertsen and Yashar Hanstad of Norway, young winners of the 2012 Global Award for Sustainable Architecture. After working in the rural jungle of Thailand near the border with Burma, in 2010 the architects venture into the urban jungle of Bangkok with two projects (see http://www.floornature.com/architecture-news/news-tyin-tegnestue-old-market-library-bangkok-7772/, Old Market Library).

Klong Toey is one of Bangkok’s most densely populated slums, a place where social degradation has resulted in a lot of problems especially for young people with violence and drugs.

The biggest challenge was dialogue with the local population, made more effective by working with a local architect: Ms. Kasama Yamtree. The architects agree that involvement in the process of design and construction is essential for achieving popular consensus around a project in a difficult place, without rules, and overcame this hurdle to get on with the project.

After a year of preparations and participatory meetings aimed at translating the needs of the community into architecture, mapping the materials available and conducting practical trials with the students involved, the team began building. In only 3 weeks (as shown in this Time Lapse: http://www.youtube-nocookie.com/watch?v=gc6oKx7RxO0&list=UU5a9yS5ztR7LOF7FEO05pzw&index=4&feature=plcp) they built a new space with the active participation of the local population, especially the young people who had at first been the most resistant to change, and fitted it out with reclaimed materials found on the site. It is not only a place to play various kinds of games, but a place to get together and study.

Use of artificial light at night gives the project its name, for light makes it a safe place at any time of day, a lantern lighting up the night in Klong Toey and suggesting that a better future might be just around the corner.


Design: TYIN tegnestue Architects
Location: Klong Toey Lock 1-2-3, Bangkok, Thailand
Client: Klong Toey Community
Project: Public space
Cost: 35.000 NOK / 4.500 EUR
Building period: February 2011 - March 2011
Area: 91 m2
Built by: TYIN tegnestue with Students and Community
Photographs: Pasi Aalto http://www.pasiaalto.com
Related links: Video http://www.youtube-nocookie.com/watch?v=gc6oKx7RxO0&list=UU5a9yS5ztR7LOF7FEO05pzw&index=4&feature=plcp, Old Market Library http://www.floornature.com/architecture-news/news-tyin-tegnestue-old-market-library-bangkok-7772/, Interview http://www.floornature.com/architects/interviews/andreas-g-gjertsen-tyin-tegnestue-architects-7795/, Soe Ker Tie Houses http://www.floornature.com/blog/soe-ker-tie-house-by-tyin-tegnestue-an-orphanage-in-thailand--7648/, Save Haven Library http://www.floornature.com/blog/safe-haven-library-giving-a-future-7761/
Awards: 2012 Global Award for Sustainable Architecture

---

GALLERY