Jakub Klaban and Luis Urribarri

Near the center of Chiang Mai, Thailand, farmers gather and direct monsoon waters through an intricate pattern of weirs and canals. They do this to fill rice paddies, as their ancestors did for centuries. Thanks to the Mae Kuang Dam, this community irrigation system manages water distribution and enables the growth of dry season crops. However, the Mae Kuang River flows inside the city’s newly constructed Outer Ring Road, trapping multiple villages, temples, weirs, and hundreds of rice paddies, inside land that’s designated for urban expansion. At the same time, dozens of gated subdivisions mushroom along the new ring highway on land that’s designated for agricultural preservation. This project will recalibrate the discord between planning and reality through a village center designed to be a civic building and social infrastructure within an urbanizing village. The civic village compound and making center explore contemporary designs, reflecting local vernacular architecture in terms of ease of construction, simple materials, and social and climate responsiveness. Building programs are based on observations and consultation with villagers in the field, including material handling, making and selling facilities for handicrafts, outdoor social spaces for meeting and eating, vehicle storage, and restroom and kitchen facilities.