Professor Jenchieh Hung, co-founder of Thai architecture studio HAS Design and Research, together with Assistant Professor Chomchon Fusinpaiboon, led the graduate design studio in the International Program in Architecture (i+mARCH) at the Faculty of Architecture of Chulalongkorn University, under the theme “AM/PM at Yaowarat: Identity in Drifting and Becoming Bangkok.” Focusing on Bangkok’s historic Chinatown, the studio examined the district as a living urban ecosystem shaped by cultural exchange, commerce, migration, and everyday life. Through field research, mapping, observation, and analytical drawing, students explored streets, vendors, signage, food culture, and the urban canopy as interconnected patterns that collectively shape Yaowarat’s distinctive identity.
Professor Jenchieh Hung brings together architectural practice and academia as Visiting Professor at the Faculty of Architecture, Chulalongkorn University. Together with Assistant Professor Chomchon Fusinpaiboon, he led the graduate design studio in the International Program in Architecture (i+mARCH), where students explored Bangkok’s evolving identity through research-driven architectural design. Drawing on the methodology developed through his internationally acclaimed practice, Jenchieh Hung + Kulthida Songkittipakdee / HAS design and research, founded with Professor Kulthida Songkittipakdee, he introduced a design process centered on the study of patterns as generative tools for interpreting urban and natural systems and their underlying relationships. Since 2020, Jenchieh Hung and Kulthida Songkittipakdee have actively contributed to architectural education at Chulalongkorn University as Visiting Professors across the Departments of Architecture and Interior Architecture and the International Program in Design and Architecture, under Dean Sarayut Supsook.
Their teaching extends the research agenda of the Hung And Songkittipakdee Laboratory (HAS Lab), where architectural education serves as a platform for exploring contemporary urban conditions through interdisciplinary research and experimental design.
The latest HAS Lab studio focused on Bangkok’s historic Chinatown under the theme “AM/PM at Yaowarat: Identity in Drifting and Becoming Bangkok.” Students examined the historic district as a living urban ecosystem shaped by cultural exchange, commerce, migration, and everyday life. Through field research, mapping, observation, and analytical drawing, they explored streets, vendors, signage, food culture, and the urban canopy as interconnected patterns that collectively shape Yaowarat’s distinctive identity.
The design studio culminated in a collective proposal, Bangkok Chinatown Memorial Observatory, located at the historic 22 July Roundabout in Yaowarat. The project reimagines the site as a public observatory that records and celebrates the evolving identity of Bangkok’s Chinatown while creating new opportunities for public engagement and urban memory. Through the framework “AM/PM at Yaowarat: Identity in Drifting and Becoming Bangkok,” students explored how Bangkok’s identity can remain continuous while adapting to transformation.
By analyzing urban events, spatial patterns, social activities, and temporal change, they investigated the dynamic relationship between permanence and adaptability.
Their research was translated into narrative diagrams and prototype models, demonstrating how pattern-based thinking can function as both a research methodology and a design strategy. Their projects positioned architecture within a larger network of relationships between architecture, infrastructure, commerce, culture, and everyday life, presenting Bangkok as a continuously evolving urban system shaped by time and human activity.
Bangkok Chinatown Memorial Observatory – AM/PM Street
as an Identity in Drifting and Becoming Bangkokby Nora Bull Langehaug, led by Chulalongkorn University visiting professor Jenchieh Hung.
This project explores Bangkok’s Yaowarat Street, known as Chinatown, one of the city’s most dynamic areas, celebrated for its diversity of uses. Unlike traditional urban streets, Chinatown’s streets are constantly transformed through appropriation, infiltration, and blending, as people turn public streets into private or semi-public spaces, generating a unique and transformative shift in their meaning.
The design reimagines the street as a “street park.” At the Bangkok Chinatown Memorial Observatory, the spatial relationship of Yaowarat Street is transformed from a horizontal to a vertical dimension. The space accommodates a variety of activities while encouraging a reconsideration of the role of open space. Incorporating greenery, the project fosters a welcoming, pedestrian-friendly environment that blends urban life with public leisure.
Bangkok Chinatown Memorial Observatory – AM/PM Vendor
as an Identity in Drifting and Becoming Bangkok by Ni Kadek Adini, led by Chulalongkorn University visiting professor Jenchieh Hung.
Street vendors are an essential part of Bangkok’s Yaowarat Chinatown, creating vibrancy and continuous activity through everyday buying and selling. Their distribution is shaped by the linear structure of Yaowarat Road and its dense network of alleys. Some vendors occupy permanent locations integrated into shophouses, while others appear temporarily, arriving by car, bicycle, or pushcart. Vendors vary widely in their opening systems, roofing types, materials, functions, and operational methods, offering rich potential for architectural interpretation.
The Bangkok Chinatown Memorial Observatory draws inspiration from the contrast between daytime and nighttime street-vendor activities. During the day, the area remains relatively calm; after sunset, Yaowarat Road fills with visitors and expanded dining setups. Visitor movement—shaped by time, spatial conditions, and vendor placement—informs the design of a multifunctional observatory comprising street-vendor spaces, markets, food exhibition areas, and an observation deck. Respecting the historical significance of the 22 July Roundabout in the Yaowarat area, an existing fountain is preserved as a key interior focal point, creating layered spatial transitions that reflect Chinatown’s dynamic and evolving character.
Bangkok Chinatown Memorial Observatory – AM/PM Signage
as an Identity in Drifting and Becoming Bangkok, by Junyi Chen, led by Chulalongkorn University visiting professor Jenchieh Hung.
This project explores Bangkok’s Yaowarat Chinatown through its most striking feature: oversized signage, which forms the district’s defining visual identity. Four key characteristics of Chinatown’s signage are identified: parasitic—attached to buildings yet visually dominant; extensible—projecting freely into the street; directive—guiding sightlines and pedestrian movement; and clustered—individual signs merging into a collective urban expression.
The design of the Bangkok Chinatown Memorial Observatory begins by treating each sign as a spatial unit. Behind every hanging sign is an independently replaceable functional module, such as a shop, exhibition space, or public facility. The direction of the signs’ extensions is translated into internal pathways, walkways, and visual guides, while dense layers of signage form the building’s skin, façade, and roof, integrating lighting, shading, and wayfinding functions. A Signage Growth System allows the architecture to adapt and expand over time. More than a building, the project invites visitors to step inside the signs themselves, creating a dynamic, living environment that reflects Chinatown’s hybrid cultural vitality.
Bangkok Chinatown Memorial Observatory – AM/PM Food
as an Identity in Drifting and Becoming Bangkok, by Lwin Myat Swe, led by Chulalongkorn University visiting professor Jenchieh Hung.
The project investigates Bangkok’s Yaowarat Chinatown through its identity as a food paradise, where culinary heritage, urban intensity, and public space intersect. Along Yaowarat Street, the site reveals a striking contrast between long-standing food traditions and the pressures of modern development. The design explores how food-related public spaces—such as street-food corridors, market lanes, and informal dining zones—shape the neighborhood’s character while preserving its cultural depth.
Guided by the concept of “drifting and becoming,” the Bangkok Chinatown Memorial Observatory maps daily culinary flows, including vendor setups, cooking activities, pedestrian circulation, and peak dining hours. This analysis informs design interventions that protect Chinatown’s atmosphere while creating new opportunities for residents and visitors to engage with its culinary environment. Memorial zones reflect the history of food culture, while experiential areas support contemporary urban life with tasting spaces, gathering spots, and interactive installations. Shaded pathways, green pockets, and sustainable strategies address environmental and social challenges, making the observatory both a cultural anchor and a resilient urban model.
Bangkok Chinatown Memorial Observatory – AM/PM Canopy
as an Identity in Drifting and Becoming Bangkok, by Yulin Duan, led by Chulalongkorn University visiting professor Jenchieh Hung.
In Bangkok’s Yaowarat Chinatown, the canopy and arcade are not only distinctive spatial forms but also the most vibrant areas of daily life. They provide shelter from sun and rain while connecting vendors, shops, and neighbors through social interactions. This gray space is neither fully indoors nor completely open; it serves as a vital carrier of local culture and community memory.
The design proposes a new prototype for a vertical community: a floating extension canopy tower. Using a core tube for vertical circulation and structural support, the building extends outward into staggered platforms covered by continuous canopies. These Sky Arcade levels accommodate night markets, community plazas, street food, and pocket parks, transforming the tower into a vertically extending street. Connected by bridges, staircases, and corridors, the tower offers a three-dimensional, meandering experience. The canopy becomes a cultural and spatial language, linking multi-level street life while reflecting the vibrancy of Chinatown both day and night. This design preserves the social and cultural atmosphere, elevating familiar urban life into the sky and creating a living, vertical community.
Biographies
Professor Jenchieh Hung and Professor Kulthida Songkittipakdee are the Principal Architects and Co-Founders of Jenchieh Hung + Kulthida Songkittipakdee / HAS design and research, an internationally acclaimed architectural practice based in Bangkok. Their work explores the relationship between architecture, urbanism, nature, and material innovation through research-driven design methodologies. In addition to professional practice, they have served as Jurors for the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) – RIBA International Awards and hold academic appointments as Honorary Professors, Distinguished Professors, Visiting Professors, Adjunct Professors, and Design Critics in Architecture at Kunming University of Science and Technology, Kazan State University of Architecture and Engineering, Huaqiao University, King Mongkut’s University of Technology Thonburi, Tongji University, Chulalongkorn University, Chung Hua University, Donghua University, and World University of Design. Professor Jenchieh Hung also serves as Exhibition Chairman and Principal Curator of the Association of Siamese Architects under Royal Patronage, while Professor Kulthida Songkittipakdee serves as Vice President of the Association of Siamese Architects under Royal Patronage. Their projects and research have received international recognition through exhibitions, publications, and prestigious architectural awards, reflecting their ongoing commitment to advancing contemporary architecture through practice, research, and education.
Facts & Credits
Project title AM/PM at Yaowarat: Identity in Drifting and Becoming Bangkok
Typology Design studio
Location Yaowarat, Bangkok
Scientific Supervisors Professor Jenchieh Hung, Assistant Professor Chomchon Fusinpaiboon