TEXT: THAN DEESAMER
PHOTO: WEERAPON SINGNOI
(For Thai, press here)
Designed by Amorn Sriwong, a prominent figure in the Thai modern architecture movement, Ang Kaew Dormitory is one of the earliest buildings at Chiang Mai University. Today, the building may soon become a memory. After Chiang Mai University put its demolition plans on hold, the future of the more-than-60-year-old building remains uncertain, amid ongoing debates over its architectural and historical significance, as well as the memories embedded within the place.
What makes Ang Kaew Dormitory significant lies not only in its modernist form solely, but in the way the building was designed to ‘work’ with its surroundings. Open spaces allow air to flow through the building, louvered panels filter sunlight, while the structural system becomes an integral part of the architecture itself. These details reflect an approach in which beauty emerges from function and context, rather than from ornamentation.
The photographic series ‘Something Still Remains’ invites us to look at Ang Kaew Dormitory through its building masses, voids, light and shadow, and traces of everyday use. It is an attempt to document a piece of architecture at a moment of transition for sometimes, photographing an old building is also a way of preserving evidence of something that may no longer exist in the future.
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Beer Singnoi (Weerapon Singnoi) is a Thai architectural photographer whose work spans both commercial architecture and residential projects. His photographs are distinguished by the use of natural light, color, and spatial composition to convey the atmosphere of each building. He is also the founder of Foto_momo, a personal project that documents and archives modern architecture through photography, creating a visual database for those interested in the field. This long standing interest in architectural documentation is reflected in his photographs of Ang Kaew Dormitory, captured on September 3, 2026.