Fear and Domestic Architecture

ISBN-13: 9783639153743 / Angielski / Miękka / 2009 / 312 str.

Nuttinee Karnchanaporn

Opis

Traditionally, practices of domestic sanctificationin Thailand (i.e. rituals of housebuilding and domestic remedies)employed the house as a device to prevent ill fortune, to promotehealth and prosperity, and to repair breaches in the system ofdefence. Modernised Thais associate these traditionalpractices with an outlook, which is superstitious and irreconcilablewith that of urban modernity. Nevertheless, Thais are struggling toovercome their fear and these practices now reappear in urban apartmentsand houses in Bangkok. The book aims to document and interpret this reappearance of the traditional practices of domesticsanctification in contemporary Thai home. The evidences show that the modernised Thais are reusing and reinventing some of the techniques of the traditional practices as a solutionfor their anxiety, while at the same time, the excessiveness of thepractices has turned the familiar space of home into a profoundlyambivalent sphere.

O autorze

Obtained PhD from History and Theory of Architecture Programme,
Architectural
Association, United Kingdom in 2005. Nuttinee is currently a
lecturer at School of
Architecture and Design, King Mongkut s University of Technology
Thonburi (Thailand)
with research interest on Thai domesticity and domestic interiors.