Back in our office, we three architects sat down with the pile of designs from the people. The average size of the largest room was about nine or ten square metres, which could make a neat 3 x 3 metre module. This 3 x 3 metre module could also be conveniently built with and spanned by bamboo, which is cheap and widely available around Chiangmai. So we made hundreds of small cardboard boxes, sized to scale, at 3 x 3 x 2.5 metres, each one representing a single structural unit. These boxes would be the “same structure” and then the “different functions” would be people’s responsibility. Subsequently, using these boxes which we had made as house “building blocks”, the people assembled another set of house models on their grid-paper plots. All the houses were completely different in area, orientation, massing and function. Some houses were small, some were big, some single-floor, some two-floor. The people were all happy with this refinement of their house ideas and were able to explain their house models to the larger group. By this time, we had, more or less, a set of preliminary house designs, based on this 3 x 3 metre module. Next we put the house models all together again, on the big site plan and saw how they all got along with each other. This time we could see much more open space, and could actually imagine living here. Everybody was satisfied with the sense of community that had been created.

: TAO-PILIPINAS :

TAO-Pilipinas is a women-lead non-stock, non-profit, non-government organization of technical professionals in the field of architecture and planning, marine and environmental science, engineering, economics, research and social development.

There was a sense of pride expressed in the heritage of the community and an interest to show the memory of the past to others. In discussions with community it was suggested an exhibition could be a tool by which to display a retrospect of past community lifestyles. The creation of a string of events ranging from music, to a display of local craft skills and the communities ideas in how to present their community to the public brings the exhibition into a look of present lifestyles. An invitation to other communities along the canal, District Office representatives, academics and students, Department of Fine Art, and members of the general public interested in a retrospect of past to present lifestyles on a Bangkok Klong. Inviting a cross-section of the city gives the opportunity to generate a diverse forum of discussion.

We copied old photographs and recorded stories in the event of displaying a retrospect of past community lifestyles. The project developed into a tool in how to understand the community and find their goals and aspirations. Furthermore, the process to exibition helped to; encourage community to take part in the exibition, attract all stakeholders, create a forum to nuture partnerships. The exhibition was also an initiative to get more supporters from middle classes, teachers, district officers, lead to an open forum/seminar, discussing the present issues of people living along canal. Strengthen community to start pilot projects, road improvement, community market roof repair.

In 2003, after Pattanee started a Housing Development project called ” Livable City”, some information about general housing problems were collected from Muang and Pananrare districts from about 20 communities. The collected information showed that their houses were too tight and they invaded somebody else’s land. So “Baan Man Kong “project was proposed to help with upgrading these communities.      The strategy proposed for them is moving some of them into a new land which was affordable and they themselves could own it. Nevertheless, the old land has been developed after that.      The strategy was then proposed to the communities, government and private sectors in Patatanee which led to a conclusion to have 1. Na Gluer 2. Poo-Poa 3. Panarae as the first three pilot communities to work on ” Baan Man Kong ” project.

The process of working with these communities was centered on creating a space where these community people could come, talk and learn about each other in terms of their living styles, house appearances etc. in order to meet their needs as much as possible. Not only the community people could come and learn about each other, but also the architects who were running the process could get to learn, too, especially about the Muslim, their beliefs, culture, activities etc.       The same idea the community people shared through this working process is they would like to have a self-reliance community and a space where they could gather around and do activities together.      The architects also collected some information which was considered to be the important knowledge from these communities in order to be an inspiration for the community people and us to work on designing the whole community. Also, most the processes were brought and done in the new site where they were going to move in, in order to help them think of the whole picture of their area and environment.      According to the collaborative process, the members from different communities could come and meet each other and learned about each other which helped them think not only for themselves but also their public areas and the activities they could do together.      A 1:1 house was also built as a sample which helped them get a clear picture of their future houses.

 

Kao Seng has been selected to be a pilot community to work on ‘Baan Man Kong Project’ , a nation wide programme of city wide community driven upgrading building secure community housing with local partnership.

CASE was assigned by CODI (Community Organisation Development Institute) to work on this project. Although this community is considered a well organized one, we still hesitated because of its complexity.

1992-95- reblocking: Earlier, houses, built right over the water made it hard for the cities de silting raft to dredge the klong regularly, so the communities moved their houses back, in order to maintain the required 8 metres minimum open distance across the klong. They also demolished toilets that drained directly into the klong and built new ones, with proper septic tanks, at least 3 metres inland.

1995 – built wooden walkway: To improve access to their houses, the people in the Bor –wa community built wooden boardwalks along both sides of the klong. The walkway cost just 500, 000 baht, and was soon flowed by a 2 storey timber and bamboo community centre, supported by the LIFE Programme.

1997 – community planning: Bor-wa was the first community to go a step further and prepare a full redevelopment plan. During evenings sessions in the new community centre, with help from CASE, residents mapped out their houses and used coloured tapes to plan pathways, fire access, drainage, water taps, electricity, garbage collection points, lamp posts and trees. The other settlements got wind of this and pretty soon; Bor-wa was helping the other Klong communities prepare similar redevelopment plans.

1997 – community plans officialised: As evidence of the transformation in the klong communities relationship with the city, these people-generated redevelopment plans were incorporated in the official municipal plan, and became the basis for subsequent NHA – built improvements to the Klong Samrong settlements in 1997.

Case team and people from xxxxx community worked together to find an appropriate house design, that was both cheap and solved the limitation of building new houses on a restricted site. Loans were provided by UCDO to enable people to start a new home. As a result of working together, four house types were designed. In each house type the people took active roles in the design process, the collaboration came up with a design that served the needs of the people. The house designs were either semi detached or terraced, which reflected the basic needs of the people and their aspirations. Terraced housing solved the problem of the budget limits and plot size limitation.