Chulalongkorn workshop invites proposals for the Naris Foundation

The aim of the “Living Archives: Proposal Development for the Naris Foundation” workshop was to overlap historical traditions with functions that make sense for the present day. Students were asked to advance proposals for Ban Plainern, a historic site in Bangkok of multiple significance: as a monument to a national artist and intellectual; as a contemporary residential complex; and as an expanding arts institution. 

The proposals were to incorporate the past, present and future and to consider both the spatial and programmatic objectives of the site.

Ban Plainern – expressed in Thai as “the house at the end of slope” – was the private residence in Klong Toei district of the great Siamese architect HRH Prince Narisaranuvativongse (1863-1947). The prince bought traditional timber houses and assembled them in what was then a 4.5-rai (7,200-square-metre) rural site. 

The house was his studio for about 30 years, housing his collection of rare art objects, sketches and designs. In the eastern portion of the reception hall, he exhibited his pastel drawings of the walking Buddha, the disciple and the angel, which served as the cartoon for a mural painting in the ubosoth (main building) of Rajadhivas Temple. 

The canal in front of the house, now transformed into Rama IV Road, was where the prince asked one of his sons to swim as a model for his well-known drawing “Mahachanok”.

Today, Ban Plainern functions as a new type of arts institution. The Naris Foundation, established in 1963 to honour the prince’s centenary celebrations, distributes scholarships to arts students. Each year his birthday is commemorated at Ban Plainern with awards and the presentation of a dramatic dance composed by the prince. 

Lakorn Dukdamban is another performance organised annually by the Ban Plainern Amateurs, a troupe that rehearses weekly at the site.

Ban Plainern remains a residential complex of 12 households. Each household has its own boundaries, service quarters, rental properties and gardens. The family head, the 96-year-old daughter of Prince Naris, is the president of the Naris Foundation.

In the workshop, students were encouraged to immerse themselves in the Ban Plainern archives to pitch persuasive architectural and programmatic agendas for the unique site, its current and future users, and its tradition of artistic accomplishment. The judging committee included MR Chakrarot Chitrabongs (The Naris Foundation), Ong-ard Satrabhandhu (Ong-Ard Architects), Professor Apinan Poshyananda PhD (The Ministry of Culture) and ML Suthanit Chitrabongs (The Ban Plainern Amateurs).

Thai student Malin Phlernjai delivered the workshop’s most persuasive proposal. Her starting point was the awareness that the prince’s substantial legacy was being challenged by the passage of time. The annual Naris Days in April were insufficient in prolonging indefinitely the memory of his works. 

To strengthen his legacy and generate more income for the foundation so that it could continue to preserve and promote the prince’s legacy, she outlined in her “Art for Funds” proposal the establishment of an art school within the compound that would recruit drawing teachers from Silpakorn University. 

In addition, she saw commerce as a way to reach the wider public. The foundation, through sales of stationery products appropriately branded and distributed via a company belonging to a member of the family, would generate new-found interest and bring in additional income. 

The students’ works in return motivated the tutors to develop a more challenging brief for the following academic year.

 

Nepal Asatthawasi and ML Chittawadi Chitrabongs serve in the Department of Architecture, Faculty of Architecture, Chulalongkorn University.