climate and design

The local architecture shows many aspects of intelligent climate design, such as material use as well as construction techniques to optimize these materials. In this case the vernacular use of bamboo as a structural and cladding material are very inspiring.

energy and matter

The initial design of a factory building is based on its program of demands. The factory requires six consecutive functions with additional administrative and a connection to several local, regional and national infrastructures. These spaces with their specific needs for ventilation and lighting as well as power supply must be matched to the availability of building materials and energy resources.

architectural brief

Problem Statement : an extraterritorial building for the garment factory

opportunity : infrastructure between weak and strong nation
(availability of raw material, cheap labor, service infrastructure)

constraint : building on water that marks a political border
(between Thailand and Burma)

investigation : legislations with regard to building codes
(international and national land ownership)

urban brief

The processes that are triggered by extraterritorial industry can be analyzed through a visual projection. We can assume the establishment of economic activity between two political entities as an attractor and a base for further spatial development. The informal formation of a self-settlement around this factory, that depends on the factory and hangs off of its successes and failures is the next step. The growth of the industrial city creates a need for public institutions for exchange, religion, education and health.

borderline projections

Borders define the physical boundaries of a legal system, such as a government or a state. Most of these political entities have a way to control the movement of people and goods across borders. Under international law, all countries may define their own conditions for enabling or disabling this movement. The development of nationalism was closely related to that of the modern state, and is today associated with the autonomy of a nation and the right to inclusion and therefore exclusion of a certain nationality. Despite the increasing international activity of the latter half of the last century (such as the development of the United Nations), nation sovereignty has only intensified. (Hiebert: Borderless World, 2003)

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a new friendship bridge

The current situation in the site on the Thai-Burmese border is a great mixture of the formal and informal cross boundary processes. Goods and persons are brought legally across the first Thai-Burmese friendship bridge; the rest is smuggled across the river on boats. Recently the government of Thailand has approved the building of a second bridge across the Moei River to cater to the increasing need for transportation of goods through the border, as well as to serve the economic border development plan which includes building Special Economic Zones (free trade zones) and warehouses near the border. Authorities are looking for a suitable site. (Mizzima News)