Phase 2: Urbanus - Contrast City

The significant character of buildings that make architecture an art of uniqueness is when there are layers of histories behind them. Before we know, the buildings have become fragments of decayed material forms. These forms would become the symbol that tells the story of a city.

In my vision, the very simplest geometric shapes of all – the square and the rectangle, would represent the city. The colour would be as pure as white and as dark as black to represent the contrast between the two.

For the white rectangle, it represents non-objective. It is where the so-called “materialization” of the feeling of realistic conception is lost. The means of representation is to give the full expression to feelings and ignores the familiar appearance of objects, where nothing can be perceived but pure feelings.

For the black cube, society live to admire and defend its meaning. It contains history of the old city, a city of stories and importance where people would talk about the science of forms and philosophical ideas behind it. Inside is the remains of the city society still want to preserve – giving the black cube its own story to interpret.

Society and travellers tend to admire the development of forms, where there is a clear contrast between religion and use. As religious architecture decay and become monumental, architecture of service are still active. One of the most important services would be on the first five floors, containing parking space. As buildings grow more and more vertically, it is vital to consider about horizontal growth as well, how we would travel from one place to another, especially transportation by car. Not only on ground but also water, notably the Chaopraya River, which is the main hub of Bangkok’s transportation and communication.

Along the Chaopraya River is most of Bangkok’s history since the Rattanakosin period. Combining the beliefs and traditions of the community, forms a temples, which later on become the symbol of the city. Each community would form its own temple until the expansion reaches the end of the river, representing the time of cultural identity.

At the time that knowledge have more power than beliefs, and function becomes more important than form, the city have grown in another direction. Skyscrapers started to build up, showing new materials of better structural usage. Society wanted better accommodation and service, yet they don’t want to replace nor demolish the old with the new. The image in my head is how the two could be together as a whole, forming a new vision on the city.