2020
This study examines historical ideals and realities embedded in the design, construction, regulation, habitation, utilisation, and adaptation of shophouses, particularly those built around the mid-20th century, in Thailand. Tuek Thaew, the Thai word for “shophouses”, literally means “masonry row houses”. Various kinds of shophouses have been built in Thailand from the mid-19th century to the present, first in what might be called the colonial style, later in so-called modern and contemporary styles. Their condition nowadays range from brand-new to dilapidated. This study also suggests topics and issues worth investigating further for the possible and positive future of old shophouses.
This study is published as Chomchon Fusinpaiboon, “Thailand’s Shophouses: A People’s History and Their Future”, in Ute Meta Bauer et.al. (eds.), The Impossibility of Mapping (Urban Asia) (Singapore: NTU Centre for Contemporary Art Singapore and World Scientific Publishing, 2020), pp.120-137.
DRFJ 