Bangkok Project Studio architects have completed the Surin Elephant Museum. The main theme of the project is “to teach people to love animals and coexist with them.” The large-scale complex is built of handmade clay bricks.
Elephants have a special status in Thailand. For centuries, war elephants have taken part in military battles, and they are still an obligatory participant in royal ceremonies. People live with elephants under the same roof, they are treated like family members and not like pets. This connection is strongest among the Kui people, who live in the province of Surin in northeastern Thailand. Here, in the village with the largest number of domestic elephants in the country (more than two hundred), a museum was built.
The museum was created as part of the Elephant World project (“Elephant World”), initiated by the local government. Surin’s once lush forests have been cut down over the past half-century to make way for crops. Animals and people suffered from drought, lack of food and medicinal plants that the forest provided. They were forced to move to the cities and entertain tourists or work in forest camps. The goal of the Elephant World project is to return the animals and the Kui people to their original habitats and provide them with decent living conditions.
The building is made of handmade clay bricks. Amidst a vast treeless landscape, curved walls of varying heights rise out of the ground to blend in with the surroundings. Arches are carved into the walls – visitors can pass from one exhibition hall to another through openings that connect to the main traffic route. The combination of indoor and outdoor spaces allows you to implement a variety of programs. “Architecture embodies the soul of the Kui people and their elephants,” the authors of the project assure.
The museum has four sections. The first one consists of the reception area, main exhibition hall, library, seminar room, café, and gift shop. The remaining three sections are museum areas dedicated to three themes: the relationship between elephants and humans; deforestation and the struggle of elephants for survival; and finally, prospects, and empowerment. In addition to the museum, the complex also includes an elephant playground, a research center, and educational institutions.
The most important thing about our X that it is for
those who are in a hurry
