MArch Guest Lecture: Chatpong Chuenrudeemol, Bangkok Bastards

Event Information:

10 Feb 2022, Thursday

Lecture Information:

Bangkok Bastards are homegrown architectural concoctions researched by CHAT architects and research division CHAT lab. They are structures created by the city’s forgotten citizens – illegal squatters, street vendors, migrant workers, and other individuals of “questionable origin.” From temporary construction worker houses to semi-legal shantytowns to underground sex-motels, these vernacular typologies are scattered though out the city. They are built with cheap, local, scavenged materials in simple yet ingenious way. They are crafted by everyday people, who are simply trying to survive and thrive in an unforgiving Asian Metropolis.

Due to their illegitimate origins, lack of historical pedigree, and ‘cheap’ appearance, these bastards are dismissed by most as low-brow, unrefined, dirty scars in the city- unworthy of any serious investigation or research. However, due to their honest responses to the city’s real-life conditions, it can be argued that Bangkok Bastards are the most authentic form of vernacular architecture in Thailand’s urbanism.

CHAT’s “bastards” research has become the foundation on which our design projects have been developed. The Samsen STREET Hotel is a transformation of one of the most notorious bastards in Thailand – the curtain sex motel. Hotel Labaris pushes the idea of hybridization to the cross-breeding between Thai local vernacular versus European imports.

Speaker Information:

Chatpong “Chat” Chuenrudeemol obtained his Bachelor of Arts in Architecture from U.C. Berkeley in 1994 and his Master of Architecture at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design in 2000.  After completing his studies in the US, Chat returned to his birthplace of Bangkok to form CHAT ¬architects, a practice combining research and design, resulting in innovative multi-scalar projects that aim to stimulate community through strategies that re-interpret authentic local conditions. In 2015, he created CHAT lab, a research think tank aimed at discovering new Thai vernacular “street” typologies, affectionately called Bangkok Bastards.

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