Now published “The Liquid Mandala”. Sametr Pattanapornchai, —known by the Thai media as the “mad professor”— used to fill the streets of Bangkok with mysterious hieroglyphs. Probably victim of some obsessive-compulsive disorder, Sametr was a homeless person at drift through the underground spaces of the Big Mango capital. His characteristic graffiti merged vaguely technical diagrams …
Author Archives: pacogmoro
“The Thai Shophouse: a Bastard Typology” at ACE Journal
The “hongthaew”, the Siamese shophouse, is the most iconic architecture typology of modern Thailand. It is an extremely versatile and robust design that has survived two hundred years of urban transformations. The “hongthaew” is a mixed-breed dog, an architectural nomad, a born survivor that originated in South China and was travelled to Siam via British …
Continue reading ““The Thai Shophouse: a Bastard Typology” at ACE Journal”
St Xavier´s in StirWorld Magazine
My interview about the traditional Karen carpentry of St Xavier’s Oratory in Umphang has just been publiched at STIR. Very grateful to Jincy Lype for reflecting my ideas about the place of traditional crafts in the contemporary world. https://www.stirworld.com/see-features-the-organic-oratory-of-st-francis-xavier-in-thailand-raises-its-cross-up-to-the-skies
Got my Ph.D. Thanks.
Last Tuesday I passed the Final Jury of my doctoral dissertation about urbanism and contemporary art in Southeast Asian Cities at Universidad Politécnica de Madrid. The jury was presided by architect Jose Luis Penelas and counted with the assistance of Dr Satanan Channowana, who travelled from Bangkok to Madrid for the occasion. Very grateful to …
Published the 3rd vol. of The Global Encyclopaedia of Informality is on paper
The third volume of the Global Encyclopaedia of Informality published by University College London is now available. There you may find my entry about Vietnamese informal architecture, among many other very illustrative topics, including Spanish ‘enchufismo’, if you ever heard about it. The book will launch on 6th of March at the Pushkin House in …
Continue reading “Published the 3rd vol. of The Global Encyclopaedia of Informality is on paper”
Progressing with my Thai writing skills
I’ve been now practicing Thai writing for a few months. Filled several notepads with this beautiful script and now I could say I can read headlines, social media, street signs (yes, those written in those cryptic sans-seriff typographies) and children’s books with big pictures.I started learning the alphabet from zero, letter by letter, and then …
St Xavier´s featured by ASA journal
“Holy Crab”! It is very rewarding to see St Xavier’s Church being featured in a twelve pages article by the Association of Siamese Architects under Royal Patronage (‘ASA’, Thailand’s RIBA equivalent) written by Nathanich Chaidee. The article, illustrated by the photographs Panoramic Studio, highlights the project’s blend of Karen carpentry skills and contemporary design as …
Watch “Collateral and the Death of Neon”
In 2020 I wrote the article “Life and Death of Hong Kong Illegal Façades” about the vanishing of Hong Kong iconic neon signs. Maybe because it was my fist academic paper, I put an spacial care on it with the valuable help of Sonjie Kennington PhD, ATT, CELTA. The article was quoted by some very …
Opening of new dormitory for Myanmar refugee children
Last week I was back in Mae Khlong Mae, a village in Umphang district, for the opening of the new dormitory for Karen children run by the Xaverian Mission in Thailand. Not a “flagship” publishable project, but a very pleasant improvement of the living conditions of the many children fleeing from the war in Myanmar. …
Continue reading “Opening of new dormitory for Myanmar refugee children”
A Tale of Salamanca Carvers at the Rising Sun
We just received a printed copy of “Stone Carving for the Rising Sun: A History of the Japanese Replicas of the Salamancan University Façade and New Cathedral Nativity Portal“, an article I’ve written about a very singular project in which my dad took part. During the mid-90s, the Plateresque buildings in my hometown were reproduced …
Continue reading “A Tale of Salamanca Carvers at the Rising Sun”