Venice, Italy
Designed by Boonserm Premthada and his team at Bangkok Project Studio and curated by Apiradee Kasemsook, “Elephant,” the title of the Thailand Pavilion at the 17th International Architecture Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia answers the question of how architecture can promote the way human beings and other species live together naturally and culturally based on the culture of Kuy and their elephants.
The Thai pavilion explores what architecture can learn from the relationship between elephants and the Kuy people — an ethnic group in Thailand’s Tha Tum district and the changes that have affected their villages of people and elephants over the centuries.
The Kuy is a Thai ethnic group that lives with elephants.
For centuries, the Kuy people and elephants in Surin, have been living a self-sustained life by collecting food and medication from surrounding forests.
However, the lack of sustainable planning resulted in mass deforestation, which forced the Kuy and their elephants to wander the streets of touristic Thai towns.
A decade ago, the government initiated a project to bring them back to a sustainable homeland.
The Thai pavilion is on display at the Sale d’Armi, Arsenale through November 21.
Project: “Elephant”
Architects: Bangkok Project Studio
Client: Office of Contemporary Art and Culture (OCAC), Ministry of Culture; Association of Siamese
Architects under Royal Patronage (ASA)
Photographers: Spaceshift Studio and Fulvio Toso
