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
Category Archives: Blog
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 …
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. …
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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 …
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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 …
Oratory of St Xavier in Umphang
Umphang district: a misty frontier Umphang is Thailand’s most remote district; it is accessible only by the scenic but tortuous Route 1090. The area is so difficult to reach that it remain as a stronghold of Thailand’s communist insurgence until the 1980’s. Its most notable touristic attraction, the Thi Lo Su Waterfalls, was ignored by …
“NuDD — Drink and Draw” in Chinatown
Straight from Hong Kong, “NuDD Drink and Draw” session are coming to the misty Chinatown of Bangkok. In Baan Rin Naam, an unmissable venue, we hold a number of life drawing sessions with splendid, inspiring models from Brazil, Ukraine and Hong Kong. NuDD a new short of event created by Hat Yat Sing in Hong …
Opening of ‘Beautiful Jailing’ in Project 189 Bangkok
The exhibition “Beautiful Jailing: Tales of Extreme Density in the Pearl River Delta”, featuring some selected Hong Kong and Macau artists, was opened in Soi Nana, Chinatown, on 3rd of March of 2019. It was curated by architect Paco Garcia Moro and funded by Design Trust Foundation Hong Kong. “Beautiful Jailing” featured the works regarding …
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