Architecture of the Modern Movement in Thailand With Dr. Pirasri Povatong

Join Dr. Pirasri Povatong, Thai architectural historian, for an exploration of the legacy and preservation of modern architecture across Thailand. 

Following social and political transformation in the wake of World War Two, Thailand experienced significant industrialisation and urban renewal. Embracing the global modernism movement, leading Thai and international architects explored new ways of creating spaces and forms that embraced modern life in the Tropics, balancing the desire to be both modern, by international standards, with Thai traditional design.

In this lecture, Dr. Povatong will look at how many of these modern masterpieces have become obsolete functionally, economically, and structurally in today’s Thailand. Drawing from his research and teachings at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok, he will also discuss how we can preserve memories of the vanishing creativity and complexity of modern Thai architectural design.

This lecture is the third in our Thai Architecture Programme.  In collaboration with the Royal Thai Embassy in Colombo, the Programme presents talks and workshops by Thai architects visiting Sri Lanka.

Pirasri Povatong, Ph.D., is an architectural historian specializing in architecture and urbanism of Thailand during the 19th and 20th centuries. After finishing his study at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, he has been teaching at the Faculty of Architecture, Chulalongkorn University, in Bangkok, conducting research on the development of modern architecture in Thailand, and the preservation of modern architectural heritage through archival materials, walking tours, and other public education programs.