Visit us at the Bangkok Spanish Design Week ’24

The first edition of the long-awaited Bangkok Spanish Design Week took place near Yaowarat in Bangkok on 21-24 November. The show was curated and organized by Myriam Rueda and Studio Momo. The Oratory of St Xavier in Umphang was featured next to the architecture sketches and models that helped conceiving it, together with an all-starts …

St Xavier’s nominated for Construmat’24 Awards

In Barcelona on 23rd May, receiving the nomination of St Xavier’s Oratory for the Construmat’24 Sustainability Awards from the hands of Albert Cuchí, Manuel Enríquez Jiménez and Justo Orgaz. A recognition that I must share with Father Reynaldo Tardielly and Karen carpenter master Ren Sulee. Very grateful also to Asociación Sostenibilidad y Arquitectura and Foundation …

Venturing into Meditative Drawing

Inspired by the meditation drawings by Möebius. Seeking a state of mindfullness, forgetting about everyday’s petty issues and letting the hand flow. Same as other skills like road driving, once you have fully internalized the mechanics, while keeping the see-forward ability that allows you to build a composition, the process goes almost automatically. The resulting …

Framing my dip pen drawings

During last years I have accumulated dozens of dip pen drawings that I would like to exhibit someday —some of them are quite nice, to be honest— and I though about getting some picture frames and start experimenting with displays. However, nearly all frames I’ve seen in malls and photo shops of Thailand are beyond …

Birdcages in Soviet Estates

Another stunning research paper. In July 2019 we had chance to visit 17 of the old KTT neighbourhoods in Hanoi. The KTT were socialist apartments built with prefabrication techniques introduced by Soviet and North Korean advisors (NK was quite good at it) that evoke the classic USSR khrushchevka apartments. However, after the 90s reforms, a …

“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 …

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 …

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 …