Abstract:

The project explores the Architecture of Coexistence through an object-based investigation of informal residential life in the Korn Kornkan Building in central Bangkok. Surrounded by commercial high-rises, the building hosts a diverse community of Thai residents, Cambodian migrants, children, and low-income workers, where coexistence emerges not through formal planning but through everyday spatial negotiations mediated by objects.

Adopting an object ethnography methodology, the research documents how furniture, tools, storage, and temporary installations actively shape space. Through mapping, plans, and sections, these practices are understood through five spatial strategies—spatial disruption, architectural appropriation, reprogrammed objects, soft boundaries, and community nodes—revealing forms of care and inclusion embedded in daily life.

Building on this understanding, the design proposal vertically activates an underused double-height void by opening upper floors and introducing new circulation. The intervention transforms isolated levels into a shared social infrastructure. A shared dining space and kitchen is introduced to encourage everyday interaction between Thai and Cambodian residents.

Rather than a fixed architectural solution, the project proposes an open framework that supports ongoing adaptation and collective authorship, reframing the Architecture of Coexistence as a living process shaped through continuous negotiation between people, objects, and space.