Award Cycle: 2011-2013 Cycle
Status: Shortlisted
Country of origin: Thailand
Location: Nakhon Pathom, Thailand
Client: Kantana Institute
Architect: Bangkok Project Studio / Boonserm Premthada, Bangkok, Thailand
Design: 2008-2009
Size: Ground floor area: 2000 m² - Total site area: 16000 m²
Completed: 2011
Massive eight-metre-high handmade brick walls with undulating geometric profiles characterise this undergraduate college. They are supported by a steel inner structure, the cavity between inner and outer skin affording protection against heat transfer. The complexs five different areas - administration office, lecture room, workshop, library and canteen - are all connected by an inserted forest in the form of a greystone and concrete pathway punctuated by trees, running centrally along a solid east-west and a broken north-south axis. Where this extends beyond the confines of the functional buildings, openings in the walls provide relaxation spaces and a link with the green landscaping beyond.