A CHAT WITH CHATPONG CHUENRUDEEMOL OF CHAT ARCHITECTS, AN ARCHITECT BEHIND THE ‘BANGKOK BASTARDS’ RESEARCH, WHO WON THIS YEAR’S SILPATHORN AWARD IN ARCHITECTURE FROM OCAC
TEXT: PAPHOP KERDSUP
PHOTO CREDIT AS NOTED
PORTRAIT: KETSIREE WONGWAN
“I am incredibly honored to have received this year’s Silpathorn Award. The fact that the juries acknowledge the values that art and architecture have on the society in other possible aspects beyond the physical attributes of design makes the award even more meaningful to me… to answer the question about the impact this award will have on my future works, I would have to say that it won’t change anything all that much but I think the award will help reinforce my belief in what I do. I have always been doing my job without the knowledge or focusing much on external opinions, whether it’s good or bad. We are not exactly the kind of office that goes chasing after awards, being given this award is a great reassurance that what I have been doing is really worth something.”
Sala Areeya | Photo: Ketsiree Wongwan
“Also the fact that the award is given to people who are mid-career professionals makes me feel that the design process of CHAT architect, which is based primarily on the research and basic understanding in Thailand’s vernacular architecture and how it serves as a solid foundation for other developments of design, can perhaps become an approach for young architects to adopt and apply to their own work process and developments.”
Bangkok Bastards | Photo courtesy of CHAT architects
art4d congratulates Chatpong Chuenruedeemon, the founder and principal architect of CHAT architects who has been honored as Silpathorn Award 2020’s outstanding living Thai contemporary artist in the field of architecture by the Office of Contemporary Art and Culture, Ministry of Culture of Thailand. The works Chuenruedeemon has created in the past several years have been developed from the conceptualization and approach he refers to as ‘Bangkok Bastards’, which essentially involves surveys of architectural creations constructed within limited budgets and spaces. From construction worker camps to roadside parlors, Chuenruedeemon decodes the ingredients from which the bastard architectures were born, viewing them as a reflection of the society’s very own DNA, which in turn, becomes the ground where his design is developed.
SAMSEN Street Hotel | Photo: W Workspace
Hotel Labaris Khao Yai | Photo: Kanisorn Pringthongfoo
Some of CHAT architects’ most interesting projects are namely, Areeya Sirisopha’s private residence and yoga studio, Sala Areeya, SAMSEN Street Hotel in Bangkok’s Samsen district that reinterprets a former drive-in love motel into the neighborhood’s vibrant activity ground, and Labaris Khao Yai where Chuenruedeemon reimagines and reinvokes Minotaur’s labyrinth into the design of the hotel’s common area.