Urban project committed to green concept

After the initial success in winning a silver in the Holcim Awards 2011 for the Asia-Pacific region, the architect team behind Urban Farm Urban Barn plans to add green value and compete for the Global Holcim Awards 2012.

Kasetsart University's Dr Singh Intrachooto, who served as a key consultant in this project, said that when he started to design this project in November 2010, he believed that this project will match the philosophy of the Holcim Awards, while the project location matched the idea of a green concept. 

He said the concept is not just about a building but even the business idea should be green.

This project is designed to be an eco-community mall that would provide food security to Bangkok’s Rat Burana district during normal situations and when the district is faced with natural disaster such as floods, storm etc. This project over 10 rais will allocate two rais for the community mall, located close to Rat Burana road. Vegetables and fruit will be grown using organic farming methods to serve an eco-friendly living lifestyle, he said. 

He added that the community mall will be the place for local producers of eco-products.

“We believe that when we design the community mall to be a green concept it will be a new destination for green producers to display their products,” he said.

Not only the landscape, but even the community mall building will be built under the green concept by selecting green raw materials, including recycleable raw materials. 

“We also will use remnants from its weaving factory to be one of the raw materials to build the community building. This will tell our history that three generations have done business in this district," Isavaret Tamonut, managing director of Urban Mall Co Ltd, who also heads the Urban Farm Urban Barn project, said. 

He added that the building will take into account the country’s climatic conditions.

Isavaret added that construction will start in June 2012 with an investment budget of Bt50 million. Work is expected to be completed in 2013.

He said that when the project won the prestigious silver from Holcim Asia-Pacific, it added certainty to their resolve that the project should be green. This will help its business model succeed in commercial terms. 

Urban Farm Urban Barn is one of 19 architecture projects selected by Thai Architecture, who entered it to compete for the Holcim Awards. 

Overall, 612 projects – 416 from the general public and 193 from the new generation studying at University – competed for the award. 

Switzerland-based Holcim, which owns 30 per cent of Siam City Cement, Thailand’s second-largest cement producer, sponsors the foundation that handed a total of US$300,000 (Bt9.4 million) to 12 winning Asian teams.

Held every three years, it honours designs for “sustainable construction” that reduces carbon emissions and cuts waste and pollution, thereby safeguarding the environment.

The Gold Award went to a project in Jar Maulwi, Pakistan, for its “Cob and Bamboo School”. Cob is an inexpensive building material made from clay, sand, water and straw.

The Bronze Award went to Dr Kenneth King Mun Yeang of Malaysia for his “Eco-retail and commercial building in Kuala Lumpur.