Commodification and Trading Architecture

Commodification and Trading Architecture

As mentioned in the first chapter, the commodification that followed the free trade policy put forward by the European Colonial Empire used trading as its main tool to claim power over the colonised country. The rising number of both small and wholesale traders in mid-nineteenth century Bangkok created pressure for its municipality to manage and regulate these activities. Streets were converted to be the main space for traders to conduct their business, as the most convenient interface between consumers and sellers. However, although selling on the street is the simplest way to reach customers, these activities could be disorganised and uncontrollable. To formalised for the purpose of control and taxation, two main architectural typologies were appropriated to the city of Bangkok, by taking the model from Singapore and Batavia. Firstly, the shophouse, an agglomeration of houses with shops on the ground floor and houses on the upper floor. Secondly, the market hall, which a wide span structure sheltering various types of traders.

The Shophouse

The shophouse, or row house, type is nowadays one of the most common building types in Bangkok. Historically, there is no clear evidence that indicates which specific building was the first shophouse to be built, but the first generation of shophouses, constructed in the 1860s, can be found in the central trading district, such as in the inner part of Charoenkrung Road and Talaad Noi19 . The shophouse’s great efficiency of land usage suits the high price of land in a denser part of the city. As well as the repetition of empty spaces stacking one above the other, each house also facilitates the division of land plots divided by the shared walls. Although shophouses had existed for a long period of time in many ancient cities around the world20, urban shophouses in Southeast Asian cities were originally based on Chinese houses and adapted with a Thai vernacular architectural know-how. The adaptation involved the implementation of a local architectural element and construction technique and the use of material appropriate for the tropical climate. With the exception of its wellknown characteristics, the different decoration of ornaments on the façade varies across different periods. It is important to consider the shophouse’s formal articulations in the face of great variations of climate. There is a necessity to let light and ventilation come into an interior space, so the front and back of the building is exposed to the outside, with a window, and vent window above the door. The canopy in front of the entrance shelters the front door from direct exposure to the hot sun and heavy rain which is common in this part of the world21. The use of brick for the wall and terracotta roof tiles comes from Chinese architectural know-how, but suits local materials and craftsmanship equally well. Local material such as timber manipulates the width of the house, which is normally around 3 – 4 meters.

Fig. 11

19 Chantavilasvong, Santi, A Study of Some Aspects of Shophouse Architecture, (unpublished Master Thesis, Chulalongkorn University, 1987) p.27 20 Ibid. p.14 21 In Southern cities, such as those on Phuket Island, or in cities in Malaysia, there is an existence of front arcade, and courtyard inside. This is a great response to the climate in the South, while this type of space is uncommon in Bangkok.

Section Ground Floor Plan

5m

Typical Shophouse

Fig.11 Initial period of Shophouse in Charoenkrung Road, source: Carter A.C The Kingdom of Siam New York and London, 1904

5m

Nang Loeng Market 1899

Fig.12 Nang Loeng Market, The first wide-span structure market integrated with a theater constructed in 1899, source: https://mgronline.com/travel/detail/9560000055237

One of the fundamental qualities of the shophouse is the ability for the space to change depending on its users. Its name, shop-house, partly suggests the purpose of the building, but its genericness allows for other possibilities of use. The ground floor could turn from a space for retail to one for car parking, or into a kitchen. The second floor could be used as a warehouse or an office space, depending on the business. The main agency for this flexible space is the position of an unchangeable core, formed of a toilet and the staircase, which is usually pushed backward to clear up the area in the front.

Fig. 12

The Market Hall

The colonialist trading system raised the number of ingredients trading around the world. Inevitably, it also increased the amount of production and the logistics that supported the deliverability of the products. In Southeast Asian port cities, which were mostly colonised by the European Empire, the colonial ruler adopted market hall typology as a model to organise and regulate trading activities in the city. The main objective of such construction was to consolidate the power and domination of the colonial government. In Singapore, following Sir Stamford Raffle’s plan to reform Singapore’s shore, the central fish market named Talok Ayer market was constructed in 1832 to house a great number of fish traders. The building is an octagonal shape with timber structure. It is located on the seashore, with part of it extending over the water, which allows easy access for boats to unload. Its location and spatial orientation is more aligned with local and global trading activities than with the living condition of the traders.

In Bangkok, the influx of multi-ethnic immigrant traders triggered tensions between the authorities and unorganised trading activities. The first market hall was constructed during the reign of King Rama V in 1899. Whilst the concept of the marketplace was nothing new to the Thai, the construction of the Nang Loeng market hall was of prime importance to the king. The market was designed as a large floor plate covered with wide-span timber roof. Stalls were distributed equally across the ground floor. Although the market hall was a new building type that exemplified the modern city in the context of nineteenth century Bangkok, it can still be recognised as a space that generated unhygienic activities which were hidden away from the urban scene. It was constructed in the interior of a block of buildings, peripherally surrounded by the shophouses, which were considered a more positive façade to line the streets. Not far away from the market, the authority also constructed a wooden theatre, called Sala Chalermthani, which was the first theatre in Bangkok. Taken in combination, these building projects show the intention to construct a cultural district in the city, where normal people could dress up, shop and enjoy a play at night. These two types of building, the shophouse and market hall, contributed to organising trading activities. Although the designer of these Asian markets adapted them to fit with the local socio-economic circumstances and climate, they remain a generic