ABSTRACT
Given the constraints under which architects in post-war Thailand worked—the availability of cheap, unskilled labour, and the deficiency in industrial productive capacity—none adjusted themselves better than Amorn Srivongse, as made evident in his system of precast concrete at the Faculty of Engineering, Prince of Songkla University, Thailand, completed in 1971. The demands for a space large enough to contain all engineering teaching facilities and for rapid completion led the architect to develop a particular form of precast concrete. This paper explores both the daring aspect of the structure: the system of modular concrete domes covering the entire lot and the labour-intensive, practical method of pre-casting concrete onsite. Drawing upon records related to the building and on first-hand analysis of the architecture, this paper articulates Srivongse’s critical approach to concrete as a distinctive building stance in the 1960s Thailand architecture.
