type: Installation
program: Exhibition
location: Bangkok, Thailand
area: -
client: -
design: 2019
Curated by PHTAA / PAGAA
Artist line up :Dry Clean Only / cuscus the cuckoos / 56th studio / Sarin Tgamol Textile Design / PHTAA living design / Sathorn chainsaw / issaraphap
Photographer : Pathipol Ratchataarpa
credit page : a day magazine
Bangkok design week 2019
The theme for TCDC installation for Bangkok Design Week 2019 has been chosen both as a critically provocative reaction to genius loci of the place and in relation to the overall theme of the event: Fusing Futures.
It is located on Kasem San 1 Alley in Reno Hotel, which since its inception in 1962 apart of accommodation was also opened for soldiers looking for more adventurous entertainment.
Reno Hotel is now the only remaining establishment of the kind in soi once occupied by many of them. The project “honors” this legacy by proposing a love-art motel in a way fusing the past and the presence, now however the only encounters one may experience are with art.
Further relation to theme of Bangkok Design Week can be found in materiality of installation. Constructed fully from concrete blocks designed by PHTAA Living Design for new façade of the hotel, the installation becomes fully recyclable.The modernist form of bricks constructs another bridge with Bangkok and hotel past.
The curvaceous walls of the installation refer to curtains of drive-in motels and create an undulating space, which combined with six installations designed by six different artists, in deliberately provocative manner explores the notions of intimacy, privacy and peeping while stimulating indirect interaction between visitors.
The atmosphere of the space inside is strengthen by the use of soft materials such as curtain and carpet which mute the whole environment.
Soon after PHTAA / PAGAA “Modern Love” architectural experimental exhibition came to an end, we wanted to explore a temporary architecture concept further. Converting the remained exhibit space into part of the hotel’s facility that can accommodate 3 to 4 hours napping / short-stay, an entirely new experience in hotel stay for fellow travelers.
In this mock-up, short stay guest rooms are positioned in alignment within a connected semi-circular floor plan. The layout consists of 5 short stay units ranging from king bed, queen bed and single bed options. Our progressive design approach utilizes the existing customized brick wall to create a cooling self-sustained wind circulation, in respond to Thailand’s intolerable humidity. Upon its final stage of this renovation project, these ventilation blocks will be reconstructed and assembled into a façade out front of Reno hotel in Kasemsan 1 alley.