IFLA APR STUDENT WORKSHOP 2011, THAILAND

January 17-18, 2011

Bangkok – Ampawa, Samut Songkhram

The workshop is purposed for undergrad and graduate Landscape Architecture students. The site is located in Samut Songkhram, the smallest province in Thailand, 1.5 hours South West of Bangkok.  Samut Songkhram is located at the mouth of Mae Klong River connected to the Gulf of Thailand.  Even the province has the smallest area in the country; it has a long history and consisted of various diversities of cultural and natural habitats.  Samut Songkhram is the birth place of King Rama II where is now King Rama II Memorial Park.  There are numbers of early Rattanakosin period temples, old communities, floating markets, mangrove forests, muddy shore ecosystems, fruit orchards, and the ASA (Association of Siamese Architects) awarded architecture, which are significant cultural and natural heritages of Thailand. During the past decade, Samut Songkhram has become one of the fastest growing tourism business towns in Central Thailand.  The tourism developments affect not only the local business, but also the local ways of life.  Many khlongs, canals in Thai, in Mae Klong River have been changed along with the change of their surrounding land uses.  The problems of carrying capacity, the rapid expansions of the urban development, sea level rise, and coastal erosion have a significant impact on local communities and natural landscape.  What can we do to preserve our valuable environment?  How could we integrate our hospitality into natural habitat? This workshop will offer opportunities for landscape architecture students from Asia Pacific countries to think about the value of local communities and natural environments and the effect from a rapid growth of tourism developments.  Students will be able to explore the vernacular landscape of Central Thailand and to visit fruit orchards, mangrove forest, and local villages including fishing villages.  The participants will have opportunities to work together with international students from different countries and express their design ideas in order to create a Hospitality Landscape for humans and nature.    Program: Hospitality Landscape: Humans and Nature. Sustainable tourism development and natural resource preservation: Khlong, Rivers, and Mangrove forest. 2 hours brainstorm +4 hours group Sketch Design + 2 hours presentation and comments Program tentative   For more information, just click HERE