Parallel

Kanthamet Akarawatcharakiat

Supervisor: Nicholas Bourns

Parallel is a project that tackles the current conflict between gentrification and rapid growth of malls and existing shophouse typologies in Bangkok, Thailand.

The two contested views between commercial growth and development and the existing shophouses, are seen as the cause of social issues in inequality and urban planning. However, demolition of existing shophouses causes the city to lose its identity, whereby Bangkok is known for its street life and activation through these shophouse laneways. This project questions and explores these two typologies to work in parallel, benefiting the city in a wider context and accentuating its sense of identity.

The project focuses on formulating and speculating a new typology through the hybridization of the mall and shophouse for the future site, with spontaneous flexibility for heterogenous activities. The extraction of these typological strategies is then used to formulate the project, creating a mixed-use project which brings street life and interaction, rather than the ground plane. Verticality allows for users to experience pieces of the city’s mixed programs as a journey of wayfinding.

Copyright © 2021 RMIT University Terms Privacy Accessibility Website feedback Complaints ABN 49 781 030 034 CRICOS provider number: 00122A RTO Code: 3046