A Little-Known Golden Age of Modernism

Bangkok, the capital of Thailand, is not generally regarded as a Mecca of modern architecture. On the contrary, the city is more commonly perceived in association with other themes, like traditional wats or glittering skyscrapers. Walter Koditek, a photographer and researcher, recently documented the history of modern architecture in Bangkok and determined that its poor perception has something to do with how it has been viewed to date and a lacking of public appreciation about the modernist built environment. The result of Koditek’s documentation is a monumental book entitled Bangkok Modern: Architecture of the 1950s–1970s, in which there is much to discover.

Spanning 520 pages, the book presents more than 300 examples of modern architecture in a layout and structure that follow Hong Kong Modern, Architecture of the 1950s–1970s, the 2022 book in which Koditek presented the first comprehensive survey of the architecture of this period in the Chinese metropolis. The heavyweight hardcover book on Bangkok is square in format with an edge length of 25 cm (10”) and contains over 1,400 illustrations, including more than 300 large-format color photographs of building facades taken by Koditek in recent years, as well as many historical illustrations and photographs from archives and publications.

The buildings presented in the book are divided into seven categories: residential buildings, mixed-use buildings, hotel buildings, commercial buildings, public buildings, educational buildings and religious buildings. Each category is introduced by a general text with historical illustrations, followed by Koditek’s large-format photographs of facades and detailed building profiles that shed light on their individual history. In addition to descriptions, the building profiles include historical black-and-white photographs or other illustrations, as well as a QR code identifying the buildings' locations at Google Maps.

Not many of the local Thai architects, or even the few international architects, who built in Bangkok during this period are included in histories of global architecture. It is only logical then that the available information on the dozen or so identifiable architects (none of them women) could be compiled into a single chapter. Nonetheless, it is a significant achievement by Koditek to have compiled at least a basic body of information on these architects. The best known among them is undoubtably Sumet Jumsai, who received his master’s degree from the University of Cambridge in England in 1965 and, after his return, also collaborated with Buckminster Fuller and others in Asia. Although most of the identified architects studied abroad, at least for their master’s degrees — including Duang Thavisakdi Chaiya (AA London), Jain Sakoltanarak (Cornell University), Krisda Arunvongse na Ayudhaya (MIT), Rangsan Torsuwan (MIT) and ML Tridhosyuth Devakul (Harvard University) — they remain completely unknown in the West. The Thai-Muslim architect Paichit Pongpunluk is one of the few mentioned architects who studied only in Bangkok (Chulalongkorn University), while Amorn Srivongse was self-taught. Among the non-local architects is the internationally active Swiss-French office Intaren (International architects and engineers) led by Hassan Roland Vogel and Albert Lucien Penneceau. 

However, the architects of many of the profiled buildings remain unknown. The book attributes these buildings to “everyday modernism,” in recognition of how commonplace this style of building became in Bangkok after the Second World War. Given this manifestation of modern architecture, it is all the more astonishing that there are only a few publications and studies in Western languages to date. During their studies abroad, these architects were confronted with mid-century architecture at MIT, Harvard or Cornell, or learned about tropical architecture at the AA in London. On their return, they pragmatically adapted these ideas in their projects to the available materials and technologies, the climate, and the social conditions. Such limitations often gave rise to quite independent concepts that achieved a high aesthetic quality.

The book is designed as a hybrid compilation. It has elements of a coffee-table book with the full-page color photographs by Koditek as well as an architectural guide with the multi-page city map integrating the building locations. At the beginning of the book, essays by renowned experts — namely Chomchon Fusinpaiboon, Pirasri Povatong, and Pinai Sirikiatikul — categorize the history and architecture of Bangkok. Local photographer Weerapon Singnoi contributes a short photo essay on other buildings from this period that have already disappeared.

Many buildings of this period have been demolished. Even some of those documented in the book have disappeared in the time since they were photographed. But that’s not all: buildings are also so disfigured by renovation and “maintenance” that they are no longer recognizable. One such example is the Robot Building by Sumet Jumsai, whose pictorial design make it one of the most outstanding examples of 1970s modernism. It is therefore high time that more public attention is paid to the architectural history of this era, in order to preserve the surviving testimonials to modernism in Bangkok for future generations.

Anyone concerned today with creating a global account of architectural modernity that does not place the Western contribution monolithically at the center, but rather emphasizes the regional differentiation that led to plural forms of expression, will find important examples here for Bangkok and Thailand. It is safe to say that, as with his book on Hong Kong, Koditek has succeeded in raising a topic about Bangkok in such an accessible way that it can attract public attention and therefore, despite their fragile status, make the profiled buildings visible to a culturally engaged public. At any rate, this can only be wished for the author, the book, and the building stock of this period. Because if this architecture is to endure into the future, a change in perception is required.