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Architects: Arsomsilp Community and Environmental Architect
- Area: 7434 m²
- Year: 2018
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Photographs:Puttikorn Kaityuttachart, W Workspace
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Manufacturers: A.P.K. Dawkoo, RCI, SCG
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Lead Architects: Arsomsilp Community and Environmental Architect Co., Ltd.
Text description provided by the architects. Architecture as a manifesto of the 21st-century learning education - Thammasat University is an academic institution that has contributed to the reform of Thailand's socio-economic and political system throughout the eighty years of its history. The university has agreed to establish the Faculty of Learning Sciences and Education to support Thailand's educational system reform. The faculty aims to support and educate teachers who will be leaders and agents of change in the academic sector. Apart from pedagogical reform, the goal is establishing a community for social development, research, and innovation for long-term sustainable development. Thus, the building must fulfill the curriculum requirement and become a space to demonstrate, support, and improve teaching and learning methodology while driving educational reform for the university and society.
The 4-story building is located near the university’s main learning center hence is open to be a gathering and learning space for all the students in the university. The open plan allows the building to be accessible from all sides, with covered walkways connecting the axis. Intending to support and nurture a new generation of teachers and academics to believe in social development and continuous learning, the overall design of the project creates a learning community.
The educational space promotes 21st-century learning by creating interactions and learning exchanges in various styles while encouraging a sense of community. With the open plan comes open for learning, open for all students, and open for opportunities. The faculty acts as a reliable home for the students of Thammasat, merging the relations between students, professors, visitors, and their environment.
The interior spaces are intended to facilitate interaction between people and catalyze learning opportunities through simple forms such as meeting and greeting each other. Hence, every area in the building is suitable for sitting; the main wooden staircase (“the learning steps”) from the elliptical court is designed with proportions that allow for casual sitting under the integrated trees. The materials used are simple; the structural materials are made of concrete, yet any surface that allows for human contact is made of wood to emphasize human healing effects. From the wooden sitting staircases to all the railing handles.
The ground floor (traditionally called “tai-toon”) of the building is a large open space allowing full ventilation to flow through the elliptical court. The multi-purpose room used for seminars and a co-working café is on the first floor. The 2nd and 3rd floors are lecture rooms, and the teacher’s lounge and dean’s office are on the top floor. The building also provides different learning environments, from private spaces for reflection, self-study, or small groups ("cave space") to social spaces for learning through interaction ("watering hole'") to communal spaces where learning happens through discussion and conversation ("campfire"). The overall space is flexible enough to accommodate different types of learning activities. It emphasizes the prayer room as an example of critical learning within the organization ("deep learning"), which can flexibly be adjusted to organizing various activities from formal tables for seminars to sitting on floor cushions for group activities.
To encourage the students and faculty to become a developer with a strong conscience in developing a learning process that is not isolated from society. The design also considers environmental quality, energy conservation, and unity with the master plan in terms of land use, space, transportation, and suitable public utilities. This building could be a good role model for the development of a learning society as well as connecting the beautiful environment and atmosphere on campus.
