Chiang Mai Workshop in Traditional Architecture and Urbanism

Abstract

This workshop was initiated by the Thai architects Ong-ard Satrabhandhu and Purisa Nimmanahaeminda and brought together some 30 students from Bangkok's Chulalongkorn University with their professors Pirast Pacharaswate and Sayanee Virochrut. A three-day workshop, with an educational charrette on traditional architecture and urbanism, was led by Professor Lucien Steil from the University of Notre Dame. Besides investigating and practicing the toolkit of the legendary Beaux-Arts pedagogy, consisting of in-situ urban and architectural sketching, observational and gesture drawings, the use of analytique, the production of an esquisse, etc., the participants learned about capriccio drawings as well as experimenting with pastel and charcoal on tone paper. The workshop offered a comprehensive immersion into the work of Ong-ard Architects, the oeuvre of which was the background and inspiration for a rewarding didactic adventure.