Research Comments

Class,


Some specific comments I have about the research topics that you have 
each presented are below. We will discuss your revised statements and 
questions in class tomorrow.  


In general, your research will result in a conclusion, or argument, that will be explained through your words AND your design intervention.  As designers, your exploration of a topic through the design process is part of your response delivery.  This will take all semester, so don't be worried if you are unclear about your view or if that view changes throughout the semester!


(in order of our conversation)


TAN
Your interest in the Chao Praya River and the effects of on communities in BKK will require extensive study of the river beyond the bounds of this city, province, and even nation.  What policies affect changes on the river (industrial development, water engineering projects, watershed 
management, etc) and who are the players?  How was the canal network of the city transformed into roads and what are the resulting spaces created?  Mapping of how geology, politics, and infrastructural development will be necessary to explore the spaces and activities you 
want to describe.  How have changes along the river outside of BKK affected life in BKK?  What are the advantages and liabilities of spaces created in a city where canals have been converted to roads, and then supplanted with train systems?  


PHED
The social life of canals in Bangkok is not something that only existed in a previous era.  The waterways of this city, reduced in presence compared to a century ago, still provide much of this city with transportation options and economic opportunities for many communities.  
Based on the research you have already found on canal typologies in BKK (post some of that research!!!) you can compare uses of specific sites in the city through extensive field observations and mappings.  From this data, you can compare canal activity, uses, and communities from 
historical research and begin to conclude how canals changes have affected commmunities in the city.  Your design intervention could address changes to canal edge sites or try to reintroduce the 
interactions once common to canals on a site far away from a canal community.    


MINT
Your interest in the use of social networking websites by the elderly could lead you to investigate how telecommunications facilitate new social interaction between people across various geographies despite physical disability and age differences. Do these websites take the 
place of social interaction that would have otherwise taken place in real space? What amenities of various social networking sites AND physical space to the elderly like to use and why? How do we 
build/program/script spaces that are more accessible physically and virtually? The broader issues of 'accessibility' could be explored in your design exploration.


MATY
Your questions about zoning in BKK could investigate the public spaces created by past zoning decisions.  Study the zoning plans, understand their intents, factors in the realization of the plans, and then evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of these mehods of zoning.  Your design exploration could reconsider zoning for a portion of the city and then design a space (or series of spaces) as per those parameters.  Explore space typologies and then consider designing the conditions for new space typologies can be created.  Look at zoning regulations in other cities in Asia and around the world to see how you can regulate new forms of public space in BKK.


PRAEW
The disposal of waste in parts of BKK would be a great start to your research, particularly the processes between home collection to sorting at a particular waste facility.  The interaction of local residents in informal settlements (or slums) is a crucial aspect to much waste disposal in this part of the world.  If you can analyze the policies, infrastructures, and spaces of waste disposal and see how factors affect informal settlement at the periphery of the city, your design exploration may accommodate this form of urbanism.  Learn all you can about settlements near waste dumps in Thailand, other parts of Asia, and other parts of the world.  This video regarding Myanmar refugees could have a counterpart in this city.  Look at the work of CODI in Thailand or UrbanThinkTank in South America.  This project will have to balance ecological concerns with waste accumulation as well as the social demand for informal access to waste.  Waste disposal technologies, such as biogas, should be explored too.  


NONG LEK (do you prefer your name to be written with two separate words, btw?)
Your topic of religious frameworks for urban planning needs some serious narrowing, but exploring how regions of BKK or Thai cities that have been designed based on these values and then studying public spaces generated by this planning method should be part of your research.  A design project could be to reevaluate the design of newer districts of the city and designing a landscape based on these principles.  


NARUT
The questions you ask about the spaces along the Chao Praya River edge is the next important step for your work.  If you want to study how these spaces have changed over time, explain the changes as a result of policy, political regime, and also a more human scale.  Examine why uses formerly along are no longer there at all and perhaps your design intervention will reform those uses (or the physical remnants) into something contributing to the city today.  Look at the Fez River Project by Bureau EAST as a good example of how current systems of manufacturing can be adapted to clean river water without destroying existing communities.  Phytoremediation and the plants you choose will coordinate with the program you call for in your spaces and which sites you decide to deal with.