Members of the Pom Mahakan community gave a tearful farewell to their homes on Sunday, as the historically significant site and its centennial houses will be torn down to make way for a park project backed by the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration. The last structures will be gone by the end of the week.
The demolition of the houses is of grave concern for architects' associations, who campaigned for City Hall to preserve the ancient buildings and the communities living in them.
From May 1-6, the Association of Siamese Architects, along with Vernadoc Thailand and Malaysia, is organising an exhibition of vernacular architecture documentation at the Impact Arena Exhibition and Convention Centre in Muang Thong Thani.
Alongside the exhibition, a talk will be held on May 4, during which participants will discuss the case of the Pom Mahakan community in Bangkok and that of the Sungai Buloh settlement in Kuala Lumpur.
While Pom Mahakan is now a lost cause, Sungai Buloh, a former settlement for patients affected by leprosy, may still be saved. The site, opened in 1930 to host patients in an environment where they would be treated with dignity, has now closed its doors. The land and buildings themselves could be the next historically significant site under threat. In 2016, Vernadoc Thailand held a camp inside the Pom Mahakan community, during which it documented and recorded the architectural features of the ancient wooden houses. This year, the Vernadoc project has relocated to Malaysia
Panelists include Teoh Chee Kong and Soong Khan Wei from Malaysia, and Sudjit Sananwai from Rangsit University. The discussion will be moderated by Silpakorn University's Supitcha Tovivich.
For further information, please visit the Association of Siamese Architects website.
