Reclaiming Porosity: A Multi-Layered Scalar Approach to Retrofitting Infrastructure, Public Space, and Thresholds in Flood-prone Bangkok

Abstract

For centuries, the Thai have adapted to live with water by altering the landscape and modifying building methods. With increased climate change and urbanization, infrastructures must be reconsidered to handle the growing frequency and intensity of floods. This thesis examines the role of architecture in mitigating such impacts and reconnecting local communities with water. By studying historic and modern landform and water infrastructural systems in urbanized Bangkok, the thesis develops a multi-layered scalar approach that reintroduces porosities as a means to reconnect and control water by: (1) resurfacing historic canals, (2) connecting public space with blue-green infrastructure, and (3) retrofitting buildings with threshold connections that connect to ritual and flexible programming that celebrate intersections between the flow of people and water. The design strategy therefore reconnects urban inhabitants along the Chao Phraya Delta to water as a cyclical and celebratory element that reinforces the specificity of place and their culture.