WRITER: MONTFORT DEL ROSARIO SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE AND DESIGN
On February 10, 2023, we welcomed architecture and design students and professors from six universities, including King Mongkut's Institute of Technology Ladkrabang (KMITL), Rajamangala University of Technology Rattanakosin (RMUTR), Rangsit, Chulalongkorn, Silpakorn, and Bangkok University to "Transcending a (mere) Void," our international design workshop with Astrid Klein. The School of Architecture and Design conducted this activity as part of a two-day event with Klein. It's a full-day design charette in which participants collaborated with a team and mentors to generate an idea for a specific place. Rev. Bro. Dr. Verayuth Boonpram, Vice President for Student Affairs, presided over the occasion.
Throughout the day, groups of students from various schools brainstormed, designed, and developed a design concept in our studio, which was critiqued by Klein. The final event was the judging and awards ceremony. Everyone had a great time, and the workshop was so successful that we not only created a fantastic design, but we also developed contacts with the other participating architectural schools.
About the workshop critic, Astrid Dytham is an Italian architect whose office is located in Tokyo, Japan. Klein Dytham Architecture, a renowned studio co-founded by Mark Dytham and her in 1991, has won numerous awards, including the American Retail Environment Awards, D&AD awards, and Dezeen Awards. Their famous commercial design project "Village" of shops, restaurants, and co-working space, within Amanda Levet's in Central Embassy Bangkok, was completed in 2017.
As part of the year-long celebration of our school's 25th anniversary, we were holding a lecture as just one of many special events. Reflecting on the title of this lecture, Astrid Klein on February 11 at Alliance Francaise Bangkok took us to look at architecture from another view angle which is about “Joy” and posts a question: “How can architecture be joyful?” And her faith is that it is an approach to make it sustainable. The event was over, but the memory lives on.
