March_1966 — Page 61

pendence that all of Thailand was united by the powerful central king- dom of the Chagkri Dynasty.

The original Thai race was essen- tially composed of agrarian people who prefered simple. hard working. happy-go-lucky, rural life and deve- loped a unique, tightly knit society. Our earliest arts were folk art in nature but after contact with the more sophisticated city dwellers of early cultures, e.g. the Mon. Lawa and Khom ог ancient Cambodian, the Thai proved quite remarkable in as- similating and adapting Indian Bud- dhist arts and those of other cultures. We absorbed the culture and civiliza- tions which abounded in that region and became city dwellers, developing our own arts and architecture, unique and distinct from early influences, so that the present Thailand as can be clearly seen. is neither China nor India.

Contact with West

In short, Thai arts and architecture stemming from ancient cultures and civilizations of the region, have a unique spirit of their own, expressed in elegance, lightness, refinement, sen- sitivity and minute details of complex forms that probably is more akin to Hindu art than those of other oriental nations.

Thailand had contact with the West as early as 250 years ago with the Dutch. Portuguese, French, English and later the American and German. These countries did not make too strong an imprint until the reign of King Chularlongkorn about 50 years ago when the nation was greatly mo- dernized. Slavery was abolished, the Civil Service reformed, schools for higher education introduced and rail- roads and roadways cut across the length and breadth of the nation.

In 1932, the revolution brought a great change in the government from the absolute monarch king to demo- cracy, with a House of Parliament elected by the people, somewhat like the English system. During the past decade, the government has under- taken a great deal of investment in transportation, irrigation, hydro-elec- tricity, and higher education which will have a far reaching result in mod- ernizing the nation.

School of Architecture

Arts and architecture made their influence felt long ago, largely in the courts and aristocratic life. One sees quite a lot of classical or modified classical architecture in early Thai public buildings, palaces and high class residential buildings.

The great need for modern archi- tects and engineers was strongly felt when King Chularlongkorn launched his series of modernization program- mes. As the nation had only tradi- tional architects and builders, modern technicians had to be imported from Europe and America. Technical de- partments were set up. staffed by

Far East Architect & Builder March, 1966

French, Swiss, Italian, and German engineers and architects, but the en- gineers were in much greater number.

Architecture as a modern profes- sion was unfortunately never popular and only a handful of students were sent abroad. The schools of engineer- ing and sciences were established long before the School of Architecture at Chularlongkorn University.

It was only slightly more than a decade ago that many more Thai went to study architecture in Europe and America, particularly the latter country, which brought about mod- ernization of the curriculum and teaching methods. At present there is a great schism between traditional architects and designers and those with a modern training. The integra- tion of modern technology and our traditional heritage is therefore most desirable.

Our main problem is a low tech- nological level and standards of living which should be taken into considera- tion in our arts and architectural ven- tures. Since we are now modernizing ourselves at a rapid pace, it would be a great shame to lose what we have from our past civilization.

In 1958 I was requested to organise the School of Thai Architec- ture, Silpakorn University.

The proposed curriculum attempted to fulfil our national needs in accord with Western standards. The policy was clearly written to integrate what we already had with what modern technology had to offer.

Now there are three institutes res- ponsible for the development of mod- ern Thai architecture:

a) School of Architecture. Chular- longkorn University

An old wooden temple, Chiengmai

b) School of Thai Architecture. Silpakorn University

c) The Association of Siamese Architects under Royal Patronage,

This last institute is attempting to set rules and regulations and propa- gate technical knowledge for the im- provement of our professional prac- tices. The total membership is about 500 out of about 1,000 practicing ar- chitects. At present, most of the practicing modern architects are un- der 40 years of age. Some have already produced quite a high stand- ard of work and many are very pro- mising. But, as a profession. archi- tecture is not yet fully recognized in Thailand.

We still need official recognition in terms of architecture acts, up-to-date building codes, and city planning laws. Another problem seems to be the shortage of qualified technicians in other related fields, e.g. structural engineers, landscape architects, de- corators and city planners, to affect full collaboration in our pro- fessional practices. But. I think the future is promising, and it will not be long before Thai architects produce something outstanding in the world.

Traditional Domestic Architecture

Before getting on to the academic approach to the creation of architec- ture suitable for Thailand, it is per- haps worthwhile to describe briefly our traditional domestic architecture which has given us much direction and inspiration in our work.

Thai traditional domestic architec- ture is probably the only development that is truly Thai and is still to be

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