commUNITY

Facing threats economically as a community in the heart of Bangkok, the residents have all the more reason to cooperate each other to protect their home. However, it isn’t as easy as it seems with the complex residential hierarchy prevalent. The types of rents and housing effect how the people interact with each other, creating isolated groups within the community. With lesser bonds, values and attachments in the community start to fade.

Studying the current situation, there are a lot of qualities that we found that we think can be built upon. For example, the community is spacious at intervals, has various existing activities. We want to build upon those qualities by proposing something that maximizes their current assets.

The idea of nodes was conceived as it brings existing activities together, introduces new ones, and creates opportunities for people to interact. Through similarities in routine and proximity, bonds could be created. Nodes offer repeating programs, but also offer their own unique one.

These nodes can be identified by the vivid use of color, which indicates which activities happen where. Multiple platform levels are also present, to increase dynamic in mundane routines (and take advantage of the limited space). Storage areas which were the major cause of clutter in the community can now be stored in compact, designated containers (hangers/shelves), which can be transformed. Greenery and vegetation is also predominant.

Over time as various people frequent these nodes and pathways (reorganizing the public space at street level to create more space for actual public activities and not private routines), a connection could be formed between different groups of residents, cluttered private activities (laundry, dish washing) could become centralized and public, which can strengthen unity, create stronger bonds, enhance cohesion and relight a sense of belonging.

Eventually, people can be brought back together and create bonds that can enable them to fight back against outside threats, or prevent themselves from falling from the inside out. It can also help construct permanence and formalize the community through a literal physical network, to improve the communities image towards outsiders (which may or may not be necessary). All the while, it still builds upon what is currently existing in the community currently.