Press Release
Benjakitti Forest Park by Arsomsilp and Turenscape Wins the Golden A' Design Award in Landscape Planning and Garden Design
Arsomsilp and Turenscape honored for landscape planning and garden design by the international grand jury of the 2023 - 2024 A' Design Award & Competition
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
COMO, Italy, April 17, 2024 /DesignNewswire/ Benjakitti Forest Park by Arsomsilp and Turenscape, designed for The Treasury Department (Ministry of Finance), has been granted the Golden A' Design Award in the Landscape Planning and Garden Design category, A' Design Award & Competition has announced. The result belongs to the 2023 - 2024 A' Design Award & Competition and was determined through blind peer review by an international grand jury panel of established academics, design professionals and press members, who evaluated anonymized entries against predetermined criteria.
The Golden A' Design Award Explained
The Gold A' Design Award is granted to designs that demonstrate a high level of innovation and a significant impact on their intended audience. Recognized as a major achievement by the A' Design Awards, these designs are characterized by their visionary approach and the exceptional skill of their creators. Winners of the Gold A' Design Award are noted for their ability to push the envelope in art, science, design, and technology, delivering solutions that not only meet but exceed expectations. These designs serve as benchmarks for excellence, encouraging further innovation and inspiring future generations of designers.
More About Benjakitti Forest Park
Benjakitti Park is located on the site of a disused tobacco factory in central Bangkok. The park's design incorporates wetland and forest ecosystems that deliver services including urban flood management, purification of polluted canal waters, and habitat for native plants and wildlife. The boardwalks and skywalks that crisscross the park are designed to immerse visitors in nature and to encourage them to reflect upon how humans and nature might live in harmony. The designers’ ambition is for the park to demonstrate the potential for nature-based approaches to urban sustainability.
About Arsomsilp and Turenscape
Arsomsilp Community and Environmental Architect is a professional multidisciplinary architecture studio that was founded to support “active learning” for the school of architecture, Arsomsilp Institute of the Arts. This school is a non-profit institution for higher education aiming towards “transformative” learning. We develop architects through education using holistic concepts and deliver favorable outcomes, varying in scale and type of architectural work, to all clients and communities with different backgrounds.
Award Record
This recognition makes Arsomsilp and Turenscape a winner of 1 A' Design Award.
About the A' Landscape Planning and Garden Design Award
The A' Landscape Design Award is an international landscape design competition recognizing good landscape designs by leading architects and designers worldwide. The competition is organized within the A' Design Award & Competition and is open to landscape designers, urban planners, garden designers and municipalities from all countries. Entries typically include landscape designs, public parks, residential gardens, urban plazas, campus designs and green roofs. Awarded landscape designs are published at https://dezigners.org/design-category/landscape-design
About A' Design Award & Competition
A' Design Award & Competition is an international, juried design accolade organized annually since 2008. The competition is open to entries from all countries. The A' Design Award has a philanthropic mission to advance society through good design by recognizing and promoting superior products, projects and services that benefit society, and by creating a global awareness and appreciation for good design practices and principles. Entries are peer reviewed and anonymously evaluated by an international grand jury panel of established academics, design professionals and press members against predetermined criteria such as functionality, ergonomics, engineering, presentation, innovation, usability, sustainability and technology, with score normalization applied to remove biases. Awards are conferred at Platinum, Gold, Silver, Bronze and Iron levels. The A' Design Prize granted to eligible laureates includes the award trophy, the certificate of design excellence, the hardcover yearbook, a lifetime license to use the A' Design Award winner logo, exhibition of awarded works, an invitation to the gala night and award ceremony in Italy, inclusion in the World Design Rankings and Designer Rankings, and public relations and publicity services. Registration, the upload of a work and the preliminary score are free of charge, and Professional and Digital Edition laureates are not contractually obliged to pay further fees to claim the A' Design Prize. Further information is available at https://competition.adesignaward.com
Press Resources
- Winner Page: https://dezigners.org/157660
- A' Design Award Page: https://competition.adesignaward.com/157660
- Media Showcase: https://www.designnewsroom.com/!157660
- Laureate Profile: https://dezigners.org/d/351959
- Further Information from the Laureate: https://www.archdaily.com/1004947/benjakitti-forest-park-ars
Media Contact
Giulia Ferrari, Press Office
Designers.Org
Via Leone Leoni 32, 22100 Como, Italy
press@designers.org
+39 031 4491953
###
Fact Sheet
The Work
- Project
- Benjakitti Forest Park
- Function
- Forest Park
- Category
- Landscape Planning and Garden Design
- Discipline
- Spatial Design
- Industry
- Architecture and Sustainability
- Colors
- Dark Slate Gray, Snow, Dark Olive Green, Dim Gray and Gray
- Images
- 5
- Client
- The Treasury Department (Ministry of Finance)
The Recognition
- Laureate
- Arsomsilp and Turenscape
- Country
- Thailand
- Recognition
- Golden A' Design Award
- Edition
- 2023 - 2024
- Design ID
- #157660
Credits
- Team
- Tobacco Authority of Thailand, Royal Thai Army (Ministry of Defence), Bangkok Metropolitan Administration, Turenscape, Landscape Studio by Arsomsilp, Arsomsilp Community and Environmental Architect, Kasem Design and Consultant, Optimology, Stonehenge, Royal Thai Army – 1st Development Division and Plan Motif
- Image Credits
- Photographer Royal Thai Army - 1st Development Division, 2022.; Photographer Sarakadee Magazine, 2022.; Photographer Mr.Srirath Somsawat, 2022.
Design Details
- Unique Properties
- Benjakitti Park is a Bangkok urban park located in the former Tobacco factory area after the factory was relocated to the outskirts. The design concepts are, firstly, to improve public understanding and knowledge about sustainability, hydrology, and forest ecology in the urban setting. Secondly, to become an initiative of the ecological park development model. Lastly, to serve the urban communities and preserve the city’s ecosystem by creating a biodiverse sanctuary that brings back lives.
- Inspiration
- With Thailand’s monsoon climate, floods and droughts are significant issues. The design comes up with a sponge concept that retains rainwater in the rainy season and discharges water in the dry season. The urban-sewage-polluted water from the adjacent canal is purified by native aquatic plants. The site is flat with a 0.5-meter-above-MSL elevation average and a high groundwater level case. Thai agricultural wisdom, furrow irrigation, is used to elevate tree roots, avoid floods, and drain water.
- Research
- Water purification is one of the project’s cores. The park helps with cleaning water from 70 mg per L BOD (Biochemical Oxygen Demand) to 5 mg per L BOD, producing 1,600 cu m of clean water a day. Constructed wetland is applied, along the 2-km-long water channel with a 1 per 1000 slope ratio, due to the evidence-based information that certain kinds of plants can absorb pollutants from water. Besides, there is a waterfall for the aeration process and an oxidation pond for the oxidation process.
- Challenge
- A challenge for this project was introducing a new type of park that is designed to be nature-based instead of the existing activity-based parks in Bangkok in order to help locals understand how man and nature can live in harmony. Another challenge was solving the issues of floods, droughts, and polluted water. Also, we wanted to exhibit these issues as they were resolved to help visitors see the park’s role in urban ecosystems, which required evidence-based research and expert consultations.
- Realization and Technology
- The crushed concrete from site demolition is used as island bases and water filtration layers instead of imported pebbles. Existing concrete paving blocks are reused as bicycle parking and seating area bases. The former tobacco factory buildings themselves are renovated into various facilities with sustainability in mind. Some parts of the roofs are replaced with translucent material to draw in natural light, and also parts of the solid walls are removed for better natural ventilation.
- Operation and Interaction
- The land that was once occupied by industrial usage was transformed into a park that welcomes people of all ages, genders, races, and physical capabilities. Various spaces are provided such as bicycle lanes, nature walks, healing gardens, lawns, pavilions, and an urban amphitheater, all of which allow people to immerse themselves in nature. Operation parts require less maintenance since the park was designed to be self-sustained, which is overseen by the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration.
- Project Duration and Location
- The project was designed in December 2019, finished in August 2020, started construction in November 2020, and finished in August 2022 in Bangkok.
- Specifications
- The design uses cut-and-fill earthwork techniques within the site to create landform character and reduce soil transportation costs. Regarding cost reduction, local materials like brick and exposed concrete are used and done by local masons. To achieve a low-impact goal, all existing road and drainage systems are kept. Additional elements like the skywalk and urban amphitheater are designed with a precast system which requires less construction area and period compared to conservative methods.
- Keywords
- Urban Park, Urban Rejuvenation, Adaptive Reuse, Sustainable Design, Biodiversity, Ecological Restoration, Climate Resilience, Accessible Design, Stormwater Management, Biophilia
