DIPROM, An Entrepreneur Alliance, Promotes Creative Industries
DIPROM, An Entrepreneur Alliance, Promotes Creative Industries Towards Urban ‘NICE’ zation The main goal of DIPROM (Department of Industrial Promotion) is to create new opportunities and possibilities for entrepreneurs who aim to be successful in their businesses. DIPROM facilitates the network and the exchange of both design know-how and value enhancement of products and services through creativity. This year, the Department of Industrial Promotion has brought products created according to the idea of circular economy from the “Creative DIPROM in Circular Economy 2022” into the display at TCDC in collaboration with Bangkok Design Week. The display intended to support Thailand’s brand recognition among the public and sparks interest and build trust in the potential of Thailand’s brand to audiences.NICE to the hearts, NICE to the worldThe displayed products, developed by the idea of circular economy, were created in accordance with the BCG Model namely Bioeconomy, Circular Economy, and Green Economy. These products were not only aimed to reduce production waste to zero and eventually reduce the emission of greenhouse gass, but also to create sustainability through upcycling–with design, research, development, and transforming agricultural and industrial waste, recycled waste, local materials into a creative design such as fashion products, lifestyle products, furniture, and home decoration items.Moreover, two more brands have been developed and promoted by the DIPROM to display their products at the Creative Market:Phengjai–the brand employs local wisdom to transform foam scraps, rubber scraps, and pieces of clothes into beddings that distributes the weight and reduces pressure pressed while sleeping, making you feel massaged by your weight.Hemp Thai–one of the Thai pioneers in hemp yarn products who have tried to retain a balance between business and social responsibility by supporting and promoting Hmong cultures and implementing an eco-friendly production process. We’d like to invite you all the Allies to see urban-friendly and eco-friendly products at TCDC, the Grand Postal Office Bangkok from 4-12 February 2023!–Bangkok Design Week 2023urban‘NICE’zationเมือง-มิตร-ดี4 – 12 FEB 2023#BKKDW2023#BangkokDesignWeek#urbanNICEzation
Your Health, You Design
Your Health, You DesignDesigns help take care of your health and better your quality of life Taking care of one’s health is an important start to creating a healthy society. No matter what age or occupation, having a healthy body physically and mentally prepared to take on anything is vital to produce great creations. But everyone is different, and the health issues one has to deal with vary from one to another. Urbanites often suffer from office syndrome, depression, insomnia, stress stomach, etc. in order to urban‘NICE’ their life quality, BKKDW together with Paolo Hospital Phaholyothin holding special health support programs at the Public Relations Department park in Ari district with a group of health professionals and physiotherapists team up to provide personalized advice to each visitor on a healthy sustainable lifestyle, and providing health checks and balances programs, suggesting healthy exercise routines and postures. There’s also a showcase of the innovative patient care that has been developed through an empathetic approach to better ways in healthcare. From pain point to gain pointPaolo Hospital Phaholyothin has been in the healthcare field for 50 years and has always prioritized patients first. With much experience in the field, Paolo Hospital has encountered various issues the patients have to experience. Although some problems seem small like patients’ loss of confidence wearing the hospital robe. So, by adding a little creativity and developing the design that can make patients feel more comfortable and confident. This helps patients and also new moms who have to wear the robe all day while breastfeeding their baby, giving them comfort and confidence during the guest visit. Other innovations like portable newborn baths that reduce accidents or newborn beds that capture memories digitally keeping the precious moments alive when we return to them. These innovations are the results of the care and recognition of patients’ experience, finding solutions, and turning ‘pain points’ into ‘gain points’ that went beyond healthcare toward patient care, comfort, and safety.Design your tomorrow for better healthThe role of design nowadays is important in developing a better quality of life. BKKDW wishes to be a space for creatives to explore new possibilities and utilize their potential to make their creations in various forms and dimensions. Inspire exchanges of opinions from people in various fields which leads to innovation that is helpful to society at large.–Bangkok Design Week 2023urban‘NICE’zationเมือง-มิตร-ดี4 – 12 FEB 2023#BKKDW2023#BangkokDesignWeek#urbanNICEzation
Create a Space For Creative Thinking City With Seatscape & Beyond
Create a Space For Creative Thinking City With Seatscape & BeyondDo you know that urbanites’ common act of sitting can transform public space and make it more creative with useful purposes? ONE Bangkok, a real estate development project of the future, prioritizes urban development with its aim to create a city that is ‘NICE’ to society, economy, and people by making their lives more convenient. This year ONE Bangkok decides to promote a huge project that encourages and helps thinkers and innovators to collaborate on the creation process of public space by transforming typical seats into public facilities with various uses. That is how the project One Bangkok Urban Furniture Competition 2022 “Seatscape & Beyond” is launched.A Competition That Takes Creative Ideas Further; Creating Decent Public Space For The PeopleOne Bangkok Urban Furniture Competition 2022 “Seatscape & Beyond” is the collaboration between One Bangkok and THINKK Studio under the support of ‘EISA’ (Education Institute Support Activity) by Thai Beverage Public Company Limited (“ThaiBev”) and Amarin Printing & Publishing Public Company for new generations innovators from more than 23 educational institutes to burst out their creativity for the city. The competitors get to consult experienced designers such as THINKK and STUDIO150 to design and innovate furniture with updated tools and technology. The aim is to encourage people living in the city to enjoy their sitting and create more public spaces. The final 10 teams, chosen from more than 247 teams, are to turn their furniture prototypes and ideas crafted from alternative materials into a real installation for people to experience the “new experience of sitting in seating” in One Bangkok project area.How to Think? How to Sit?In Bangkok Design Week 2023, One Bangkok presents two main activities. The first one is an exhibition portraying the final 10 teams and THINKK Studio’s working processes on furniture designs–from sketches, models, sample materials, and short documentaries filming their 5 monthly long workshops. The second one is the competition winners and special prize winners announcement from the 10 final teams. Moreover, a talk on urban development and public space will also be held by One Bangkok’s vice president and manager of art and culture, Charinthip Chumuenwai, who is going to share her views on the topic as well as THINKK Studio founders, Decha Archjananun and Ploypan Theerachai, who are going to share know-hows from their working experiences.One prime highlight of this exhibition is the public sets of furniture from the One Bangkok project which will be located in front of the Grand Postal Office Building. THINKK Studio’s intention was to reinterpret the common four sitting behaviors and create them into new installations. The four sitting behaviors are 1. Sit to Linger–to sit and relax in your trains of thought 2. Sit to Gather–to sit together and gather as a community 3. Sit to Play–to sit and do activities and 4. Sit to Transfer–to sit during the intervals of the day. These installations invite people to enjoy the design week, find new sitting experiences, and contemplate life’s meaning in the relaxing public seating with decent and quality designs.Public spaces are the heart of Urban ‘NICE’ zationImproving and expanding public spaces in the city is an important factor in building a city that is ‘NICE’ to the people. Inspiring new ideas and encouraging aspiration for creators is also a key factor that could potentially develop city areas and utilize it for society and cultures. It would be even better if the designers’ network shared the same goals and dreams to drive the sustainable urban ‘NICE’ zation for future residents.For those who are interested in exploring creative ideas to open up new possibilities in (re)building sustainable Bangkok, make sure you do not miss Bangkok Design Week 2023 held this 4-12 February!–Bangkok Design Week 2023urban‘NICE’zationเมือง-มิตร-ดี4 – 12 FEB 2023#BKKDW2023#BangkokDesignWeek#urbanNICEzation
Expanding the opportunities and possibilities in a collaboration with various co
Expanding the opportunities and possibilities in a collaboration with various countriesApart from the over 500 programs by Thai creatives scattered all around Bangkok during Bangkok Design Week 2023, there are also ‘Nice’ international allies from 14 different countries, such as Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, France, England, Russia, New Zealand, the USA, Japan, Taiwan, Indonesia, and India. Taking us on an international level and enjoying the exchanges from different cultural points of view and design ideas.There are over 20 programs from international creatives, like a showcase from Moscow Creative Tech Highlights from Russia – exhibiting innovative technology of the future at TCDC, and talks open for exchanges of different case studies from around the world on urban’NICE’zation in multi-dimensions to lead Thailand forward in urban’NICE’zation while keeping better quality of life, environment, and economy in mind. There are also fun programs filled with workshops, performances, a creative design market from Pinkoi.com, as well as cultural walking tour – exploring Thai food in Hua Lumphong district hosted by RTUS Thai-European Youth Forum on Urban Community Development under the support of the Goethe-Institut. Another interesting event is หมู่ฮ้องหา… (Friends Call) at SUPH Art Space held by a group of international artists from countries like England France Germany Indonesia and India.Bangkok Design Week 2023 is conceived as a platform for design ideas exchanges for many countries, which lead to inspiration and new creative works in the future. A sustainable urban’NICE’zation requires collaboration with creatives and support from many sectors, not only domestic but also regional and global supports where we can exchange knowledge and experiences to explore ideas. An urge to question the future of life’s quality starts with having ‘Nice’ ally to urban’NICE’ together, not only in Bangkok but everywhere in the world. –Bangkok Design Week 2023urban‘NICE’zationเมือง-มิตร-ดี4 – 12 FEB 2023#BKKDW2023#BangkokDesignWeek#urbanNICEzation
The Making of Haroon Food Market
Learn from the past, carry on the present, taking Haroon food to the futureStarting from the food tour to the E – sarn northeastern part of Thailand to sourcing local ingredients and discovering tasty local salt which is much undervalued for one kilogram sold at just less than 1 baht. This inspired Bo – Salila Chartrakulchai, former event, and party organizer/planner. She started to question why the local Thai ingredients are so undervalued. So she decided to do something to make changes and founded NOSH NOSH Project in 2018 which means ‘yum yum’ with the intention to create an Educative Dining Experience, a space to learn through eating to turn the urbanite’s attention to the local food source and value the people within the local ingredient production cycle more. Hidden Gems, Halal Legendary FoodThe latest NOSH NOSH collaboration with Haroon Mosque Community in Soi Charoenkrung 36 is the Halal food market, a special edition for Bangkok Design Week 2023. The market has over 30 stalls selling their signature dishes for you to try. Most of all the dishes are old recipes, passed down in their family through generations for hundreds of years. Haroon Mosque Community is one of the oldest Muslim communities in Charoenkrung district, which has held several food markets in the past to increase the community economy, and liveliness, and invites ‘Nice’ friends to get to know the district’s food culture.Bo’s first mission is to explore and get to know the people in the community. She discovered that their descendent are mostly from South India which has many dishes with unique charms. But these recipes are slowly disappearing without anyone carrying on the recipes. “Each one of their family recipes is very interesting and rare to find. Some of the recipes I’ve never tried before, and some I ate here for the first time like the desserts Bayia Bean Cake, Suji Ka Halwa, and Fish curry which you can’t even find on the menu of the Indian restaurants. Some menus have their own cooking tricks like using two frying pans, one with high heat and the other with lower heat. Frying the hot one then onto the other to get pretty colors.” The first thing to do is to start figuring out how to continue the legacy of these recipes. Add the Food Market Charms with DesignsApart from that, there are art elements that Bo thinks should be added for better communication. “Before this, the stalls had separately done their own designs, they didn’t have the proper designers. So, I thought to bring in (designers) to help oversee the overall art direction, logos, and other media like promotional videos and heritage recipes cookbook ‘The Haroon Cook Book’ to get people who haven’t been to Haroon Market interested, and know how the food is cooked, their histories, to intrigue them to come to the market next time.” For the design to be more complete, Bo invited two designers to join the project. First, Maan – Jirawat Sriluansroi, the owner of The Only Market Bangkok, who has spent his time learning Thai lettering calligraphy technique during covid period and compile his work on Instagram Thaipologic. Bo has been a fan of Maan so, she invited him to design the ‘Haroon’ lettering to use as a logo for the community’s food market. “I feel that anything that is personally handcrafted with our own signature is endless. Say I want to write the word ‘love’, I can write it a hundred times and it won’t be the same, but each is still our own signature, which is different from the set typeface. By the way, it depends on the audience preference, but as someone who constantly creates new things, I want to create something of my own, so the handcrafted lettering is more unique,” the famous designer explained about his handwritten lettering. From Family Recipes to The Haroon Cook BookAnother important person to this project is Ton – Asazak Azvahiransiri, a freelance architect who helped oversee ‘The Haroon Cook Book’ design and props to liven up the location. “When I explored the Haroon community market, what impressed me most is the fact that the food sold is the same as what they cook at home, they put in so many ingredients and sell them at a very low price. And it’s even more impressive when I get to know more about the community and see the steps it takes to make the dishes.”Bo also added that the intricacy is the charm of Haroon foods, some dishes have to be prepped from 3 a.m. and the person who makes them is called ช่างแกง (curry specialist) When they make Biryani or Curry, they would make it in a large pot putting in at least 200 pieces of chicken. It needs muscles to stir, so the stirrer is mostly male. Each step of the prep is also very intricate and clean, with a strict cleaning process because one of the golden rules in Halal food prep is cleanliness. The strict cleaning steps, and a particular part of the meat to cut requires expert knowledge so the person in charge is called ช่างแกง (curry specialist) for their expertise.–Bangkok Design Week 2023urban‘NICE’zationเมือง-มิตร-ดี4 – 12 FEB 2023#BKKDW2023#BangkokDesignWeek#urbanNICEzation
The Making of Sense of Nang Loeng
Sense of Nang LoengOpen-up the District, Open-up the Senses: Understanding Nang Loeng’s Core EssenceBangkok has been through struggles during the Covid-19 times. Rush Pleansuk, designer and co-founder of Sumphat Gallery, had a chance to visit the community of Nang Loeng and meet with the people and discover the unique charms that cannot be found anywhere else. Nang Loeng is not just about the market with food stalls but it’s full of historical artistry and performance arts, which unfortunately have much worn out. “We discovered the wow but sad at the same time.“ Rush talked about the rundown state of Nang Loeng he found. “We discovered (Thai dance) masters of Chatree Dance Theatre (คณะละครชาตรี). The uncle used to play (Thai) instruments in the Fong Naam band with the (musical) master Bruce Gaston. They are the people who are an important representative of Thailand, they are representing Thainess through culture. But now they’re all living in crowded communities without jobs or income for the past three years as an effect of Covid. We still cannot visit the dance master at her home. It’s sad because people talk about their unique Thainess with pride and argue about their cultural prowess in having special characteristics in our dance. But looking back at the ones who are preserving the dance, they are being neglected or not given any opportunities. They were left behind and living in struggles”Nang Loeng’s AvengersAfter discovering the issue, Rush gathered around friends in the design circle and formed a group called Sense of Nang Loeng to express the stories of Nang Loeng in various aspects. This is so visitors of Bangkok Design Week 2023 can experience with all five senses the essence of this historic district that has been in Bangkok for a long time. So they have worked on the ‘Sartorial’ project where they brought Chatree Dance Theatre (คณะละครชาตรี) to perform with a blend of contemporary style and developed the space in the community to allow for local-use as well as for temporary exhibition in the festival. They are also able to collaborate with professional architect Jun Sekino from Junsekino Architect and Design, professor Kwanporn Bunnag, and professor Chanon Wasinghon from Sripatum University to help revitalize the physical space of Nang Loeng to be more pedestrian friendly.Moreover, they also highlight Nang Loeng’s unique characteristics as a food hub. With professor Ularnpatch Nithiuthai from Ami Nithi Studio, creating impressive food packaging for the Jub Jib Jab Jai tour, professor Suthee Sertsri and professor Daranee Ajharn from Bangkok University, working on the ‘Kin Pleon Len Loeng’ project to bring the original authentic recipes and twist it around to create new interesting dishes to try out, and Suwan Welployngam, the community leader who collaborate with the community group called E-Loeng, bringing all stories of art, community, and the city that translates into various activities like district discovery tours, workshops, community chefs’ food tasting, photograph exhibitions to revitalize the district economy and support community sustainability.Developing the District is the Main Challenge“The making process of Sense of Nang Loeng is very challenging because of the complexity of ownership of the space, like the rental space is under the land under the king’s patronage department but land on the outer road is under the district department which is looked after by community leaders, within the buildings, there’s also rental residences and lenders who we also have to coordinate. Not only that but there’s also the crowded living space which is very complex in many aspects. This is a challenge for designers who cannot solely rely on knowledge in one area of expertise but require innovative knowledge of many aspects. The design will not be for the sake of beauty or the designer’s name recognition but this project urges us to use the design thinking process to truly understand and collaborate with the community leader to help develop the area. What’s important is we have a clearly defined purpose, who are we doing this for, are we just displaying our new design work inside the community or are we opening up the opportunity for the people in the community to express themselves, increase their income, and a way to true solutions for the community? This is what the group Sense of Nang Loeng wants to present in Bangkok Design Week”Therefore, every activity happening in Sense of Nang Loeng is ideated by the challenge to resolve community issues. Not only trying to understand the current issues in the community but “we are looking into the root of the problem from the past and foreseeing the possibilities in the future. The design work process is about looking at the past, present, and future to pick the best solutions from the hundreds we came up with. Finding the best one with the potential to grow, looking at the history and speculating the potential on the space utilization in the future, and lastly looking at the budget to see what is more suitable as well as driving the small movement in the society”Urban“nice”zation needs culture“If you go to the Rattanakosin area, you’ll notice that the area has sort of become like Disneyland. The area seems to be missing its cultural roots. It’s not the issue of foreigners coming dressed in traditional costumes to take photos like people in history, but when the place is missing its roots, missing the way of life that relate to the area, just make the place become a theme park (rather than meaningful cultural area)” Rush discussed the issue of the cultural tourist location in Thailand.“If we want an urban“nice”, I think we need to be a city with cultural aspects. Culture doesn’t necessarily have to be something old and historical but there should be a public space where we can express ourselves, have the freedom to live the way we want to live, be happy, and enjoy activities in public space. Like in France, you see people doing hip-hop dance in the public square and bands playing music, exercising, and staging demonstrations on social issues because the city space is for (public) living life. I hope to be able to hear Thai traditional music playing when walking around the Phra Nakhon area, foreigners sitting around watching the performance, and people in the area eating out with their children playing about, having their happy place extended outside of their households. The city should not be a place where we just pass by when we get up to work in the morning, the city should be a space for expressions and interactions between people passing by each other. The city should be a place where we can express our happiness in public space. So culture can be conveyed in the way of living and activities, where people in the community come together to create happiness in the area. To me, this is urban“nice”zation, this is the reason why culture is important. If a city lacks culture, it makes no difference whether it is factory-made or simply a tourist machine that only distorts the money tourists pocket.Next step for Nang Loeng Among Changes“After the festival ends, our works will be moved to a public park in the community, we want it to become a space for the community. The renovated old buildings during the festival will be passed on, we presented the idea of Chef Table inviting guests to taste the special menu at Baan Nang Loeng, adding value to the historical menus through a twist into new menus, and Food tasting activities ‘Jub Jib Jab Jai’ food touring in the market, these activities can be carry on by Nang Loeng community as a community project to attract more tourists to discover this hidden district. If there’s effective promotional support this could become another source of income that spread to everyone in the community of Nang Loeng”“Each district in Bangkok has its own unique and special charms. I hope that after the project ends, people will know more about Nang Loeng. We want to revive the impressive image of Nang Loeng with houses of Thai traditional music and theater from the past because this is the district characteristic that makes it special. As Bangkok Governor Chatchart Sitthiphan has expressed his opinion that ‘he wants to support making distinct characteristic of each district in Bangkok’, which I think that our activities demonstrate the support of Bangkok’s policy” –Bangkok Design Week 2023urban‘NICE’zationเมือง-มิตร-ดี4 – 12 FEB 2023#BKKDW2023#BangkokDesignWeek#urbanNICEzation
Making of Re-Vendor Charoenkrung 32
Re-Vendor Charoenkrung 32Building (a) a venue of Street Food That Is ‘NICE’ For EveryoneStreet food is not only just a charm and the life of Bangkok that attracts gastronomes and food-lovers from all around the world, but it is also a budget food for people who roam the streets. Despite all being said about street food, there has been a debate on the management of vending areas, vendors, customers and people who walk by and the debate on waste management and hygiene that affects consumers and the city. Creative Economy Agency (CEA) came up with a street food management experimental model to find integrated solutions to street food management and area limitations. The model, located in the creative economy district of soi Charoenkrung 32, is created in collaboration with Cloud-floor (an architecture company that prioritizes public space and urban environment), International Program in Communication Design (Faculty of Architecture, Chulalongkorn University) and the Department of Environmental Engineering (Faculty of Engineering, Kasetsart University).Cloud-floor co-founder, Fuse Nataphong Phatthanakosai, revealed the beginning of this project. “CEA originated this project as they see how their employees’ daily meal revolves around soi Charoenkrung 32, nearby the CEA office. They feel the urge to invent a street food management system that aims for a better food ecosystem in terms of hygiene, area management, urban scenery and communication between local vendors in the community. This model could potentially be improved, rescaled and applied to other areas as well. To assess what could be improved about street vendors, we ask stakeholders from the government sectors, municipal offices, vendors, CommDe architect students and consumers from CEA to proceed with a discussion together. I posed a question about whether the culture of street food should be maintained and cared for in Bangkok. Most stakeholders agreed that it should , as street foods are considered a resource of accessible and affordable food. The question is how do we make street food work within the specific context of that area.” “Soi Charoenkrung 32 is a dead-end alley. The number of people walking through is not considered very high. Most people come by for lunch or go through the alley as a shortcut to other areas within Charoenkrung. The context of this dead-end street canteen is different from those of the main street footpath where lots of people walk by. Unlike the dead-end alley, the conflict that usually arises in the main street is that pedestrians should be the priority and the vendors being the second one ” Fuse further explained the condition of the area.Thought-Provoking and Inspiring Case Study From Around the World“If people still want to have street food around, let’s take a look at a case study that might help promote the area. Soi Charoenkrung 32 couldn’t follow the case of Hawker Centres in Singapore as we do not have any private adjacent areas that could regulate the renting system for street vendors. Theoretically, we have to find alternatives in the nearby area. If it is too far from the previous Soi Charoenkrung 32, consumers might find it too inconvenient and vendors could feel that their businesses have become too uncertain and at risk of losing potential customers.”“Next one is a case from Taiwan. To regulate the traffic for commuters of all modes, they decide to move vendors from the main street to the alley or the secondary street during the nighttime instead. We feel like this could be adapted to Bangkok during the transition where the government is searching for areas to build the next Hawker Centers which would take 1-3 years in relocating all vendors into the specific given area.” “The third solution from Korea relies on design and management. Korean street food vendors sell their food in a tent-like stall called “Pojangmacha”. The government has set up a clear concrete policy on the categories, color code and location of street vendors. The PVC shield cover can be pulled down from the stall during the winter and can be pulled up in the summer. Street vendors are obligated to register with the government system , so they can be tracked and receive training about environmental knowledge and concerns about public space before they conduct their usual businesses.” Applying the model to the context of the area“Our team is interested in Korea’s model because it is similar to what Thai vendors have been practicing. The knock-down tent-like stalls are common to find and maintain. Furthermore, the PVC shield sheets the Korean used for the winter can be used to cover the stalls and keep the area organized. The issue that we prioritize is communication because, according to vendors, the Thai government’s regulation has been quite vague. New vendors learn the regulation from their peers and that sometimes causes miscommunication and inaccuracy. So, we have designed a “Street Vendors Handbook” that provides details, agreements and practices for vendors in the city. The content includes hygiene practices, waste sorting methods and a how-to on tidying up the stalls to improve urban scenery.” Hygiene Practices and The Promotion of Charoenkrung 32 Street Food Identity“Next thing is the hygienic practices in the area. The problem we found was that most vendors clean up their dishwashing by pouring waste water out onto the street without proper sewage disposal. We introduced waste sorting and management to both vendors and consumers so that the vendors do not have to take all the responsibility alone. The grease traps and the food waste strainers are installed to prevent pipe blockage. Other issues are about physical spaces such as umbrellas or tents, common agreements and boundaries for vendors , so cars are still able to pass through the area.” “Lastly, it is service improvement and the promotion of the local street food identity by using design to help vendors carry out their businesses better such as providing English menu translation, obvious queuing spots and decoration that help highlight the unique identity of soi Charoenkrung 32. With the help of CommDe architecture students, the walls around and the graphics on the PVC shield sheets are designed to present the only local identity of the area.” What Re-Vendor Charoenjrung 32 has done during the Bangkok Design Week 2023 is just the first phase of a small experimental project under the limitation of time and budget. The first phase aims for area management and setting common grounds and boundaries for vendors on how to keep their stalls organized. Grease traps are also installed for nine vendors. One common washing space is determined and shared by vendors. Waste sorting has been brought into the practices of both the vendors and buyers which works out well. Many vendors reported that the project helps improve the street food culture as people are more content with their stalls getting cleaner and nicer. The municipality office in charge of the area has planned a policy to help with street food management. This may be marked as the beginning of how creativity has elevated and improved the environment and the community’s condition towards the Urban ‘NICE’ zation where street vendors are in harmony with the urban scenery and life.–Bangkok Design Week 2023urban‘NICE’zationเมือง-มิตร-ดี4 – 12 FEB 2023#BKKDW2023#BangkokDesignWeek#urbanNICEzation
The Making of Bangkok City Trooper
The Making of Bangkok City TrooperCity (Development) Trooper in Yaowarat (Chinatown) Apart from being the place for appetizing street food and the sleepless merchant district, Yaowarat Chinatown is rich in Chinese culture which has been passed along throughout the ages within the area. Being both a large-scale economic area and tourist attraction with a high-density population, this area has been used for many various purposes. SATARANA, a civil society network whose focus is on the city and community resilience, aims to promote the urban design that best fits the limited conditions of the city. Aum Wipawee Kittitian, SATARANA’s representative, revealed the collaboration of the Bangkok City Trooper projects with the Bangkok Design Week 2023. She is responsible for the academic program in collaboration with 25 education departments from 12 universities that are inspired and interested in creative urban development. The word ‘Trooper’ means ‘Students Trooper’, and now accounts for almost 500 members, who volunteered to explore and ‘hack’ the Yaowarat district together. Start From “What the City Needs”“We did research in the local area first by talking to locals and specialists to see what the city really needs, what should be fixed or improved. Then we categorized issues that could possibly be made better by creative design and talked to each educational department to match their expertise and interest. Not only the faculty of design or architecture who get to join but also those that have never collaborated with Bangkok Design Week before such as the faculty of science, engineering, liberal arts, and archeology also. We think our current urban issues could be beneficial to the education context. Urban areas could be a potential space for students to experiment with their work. We don’t have instagrammable grand pavilions but most of our works are small, yet created for what the city really needs.” “When talking about Yaowarat in general, most people would think of ‘Chinatown’ or ‘street food’. But, according to our research, there is so much more about Chinese cultures in Yaowarat throughout the ages that people might not know about. For example, there were six abandoned movie theaters along the road which means the movie industry was once popular here. It was big! Imagine, 6 theaters on the very same road! The other neglected culture was the Chinese Opera. The Younger generation might find it unrelatable because of the language but the plots and the plays themselves are very entertaining. There might be a language gap lost in subtitle translation. If we make Chinese Opera more accessible, the beauty of this art will be preserved.” “During our survey through nooks and corners of Yaowarat, we have found many unoccupied spaces. Some are expensive land that owners have not decided to invest anything on yet. Our team contacted those owners and asked if we can project an outdoor movie theater to utilize the abandoned spaces. This sets as an inspiration that we can create new opportunities out of the existing land use.”Ideas Ignited By The New Generation“During our collaboration with the new generation, it is obvious that our ideas could soon be obsolete. The innovation and the digitalization of their work are very fascinating as the faculty’s curriculum has evolved a lot over the years. For example, a project from the Faculty of Industrial Education and Technology King Mongkut’s University of Technology Thonburi students recreated an old movie theater on an online platform by using the Metaverse. That is something we could never imagine creating before. Another interesting one is an eco-friendly incense stick. We have always been discussing how incense smoke causes pollution in the Yaowarat area where there are many shrines. The Faculty of Engineering and Industrial Technology, Silpakorn University is aware of this issue and sees the opportunity to minimize the effect of the religious incense smoke on the environment.” Small Change, Big MoveSmall Change, Big Move is one of the beliefs that SATARANA holds at its core. Some small projects could potentially contribute to a concrete transformation for the community and are a prototype that could be implemented right on. For instance, the Yaowarat Navigator was designed by the College of Social Communication Innovation, Srinakharinwirot University. The idea was that even though people use Google Maps to explore Yaowarat, they usually get lost still because there are barely any street signs within the area. Street signs are developed into a project and then installed as a permanent program in the Yaowarat area, even long after the Bangkok Design Week ended. The ‘Benches For All’, designed by the school of Architecture, Art, and Design KMITL University, are also furniture that would be permanently installed in the Luenrit community. “SATARANA works as a facilitator that connects everyone into the city area” Aum explained her role in the project. “We try our best. We put up street signs so people don’t get lost. We renovated the bus stop to make the routes more clear. We have lanes for those who travel solo to the design week. We try to fix the traffic so Yaowarat can be a more accessible area for the people. Little by little, we are filling in the functions into the vacant spaces and facilitating the city.” So far, Bangkok City Trooper has been implementing the design into their urban development experiment, which can be assessed and implemented effectively on the real city scale. Our vision of “Urban ‘NICE’ zation” is to see people of all identities get access to public spaces. Those public spaces would have to be able to support and facilitate their lifestyles and needs within the city. Decent Design is not about gaining praise from some but is about being accessible and functional for all.–Bangkok Design Week 2023urban‘NICE’zationเมือง-มิตร-ดี4 – 12 FEB 2023#BKKDW2023#BangkokDesignWeek#urbanNICEzation