The Kingdom of Thailand Essays -- Bangkok, South East Asia

History Assignment The Kingdom of Thailand formerly known as Siam, is found in South East Asia. This country is renowned for having the most recorded reigns in the world. (1) About 64 million people live in Thailand and its largest city is Bangkok which is also its capital city. Thailand experienced rapid economic growth between 1985 and 1995, (2) and today, it is a newly industrialised country well renowned with tourists. Architecture in Thailand is a vital part of the community as it represents both the struggle of living there because of severe weather and also the cultural significance of Thailand and their religious beliefs. Due to the heat from the afternoon sun in Thailand, the bottom part of the house is cooler. The houses reflect the climate and tackle better the attacks from nature. (3) Thailand managed to develop appropriate regional variations in its religious and vernacular buildings. Today, in Thailand, especially in Bangkok, one finds a great deal of contemporary architecture, as well as a contemporary twist on the more traditional Thai architecture, such as the stilt houses. (4, 5) This outlines in brief the contrasting difference between my two Thai architects named Duangrit Bunnag and Dr. Pinyo Suwankiri. Dr. Pinyo Suwankiri was born in Songkla in 1937 while Duangrit Bunnag was born in 1966 in Bangkok. Though there is a huge age gap between these two architects, both of them flourished in the last three decades with their recognised projects in Thailand. Pinyo Suwankiri has dedicated a lot of time and put in tremendous work in order to preserve the dignity and style of Thai architecture. The traditional form of Thai architecture is close to his heart and Dr. Suwankiri treasures it deeply which is ... ... his work while Dr.Suwankiri strived to preserve the dignity of the conventional Thai stilt structure. The projects of Pinyo are smaller in comparison to those of Duangrit. Here is a table from some information I gathered which states and compares the achievements they have received: Quoting China Williams (2009) from the book Thailand, Dr. Suwankiri is a traditional building specialist whose work is ubiquitous and the blueprint for an institutional aesthetic of traditional architecture. Following this, she explains that Duangrit Bunnag has excited the design world with his nearly undressed glass boxes offering a contemporary twist on mid-century modernism. The contrasting difference between these two architects cannot be highlighted better. They both offer a lot with regards to Thai architecture and both deliver a bold statement with their unique works.