bamboo dormitory in thailand offers access to education for remote students

in the midst of the mountains of ta song yang district on the burmese-thai border stands a branch of the baan nhong bua school. for over a decade, the school had been providing education for children living in the area. however, as the branch school is located nearly ten kilometers away from the surrounding villages, traveling daily to school proves to be a near impossible task for the children, so many have simply chosen to abandon their education. today, only around 70 students — ranging from kindergarten to primary levels — attend the branch school. to offer better access to education for these children, the school resolved to build a small dormitory to accommodate those who cannot make the daily commute.

all images courtesy of the faculty of architecture, chulalongkorn university

the faculty of architecture at chulalongkorn university volunteered for the rural development camp to design this 20-person dormitory for the baan nhong bua school. with limitations such as difficulty in transportation, limited budget, and lack of electricity, the project required considerable amount of care and tremendous effort. together with the villagers, who taught the volunteers practical knowledge which cannot be found within university walls, the ‘phirun proiprai,’ or ‘falling rain’ dormitory was completed within 28 days of construction.

the footprint of the falling rain dormitory covers 100 square feet. the structure, with two cantilevered balconies, is elevated two meters above the ground, leaving space underneath for additional use. structurally, the project combines three systems: wood, concrete, and metal. prefabricated concrete slabs were used for flooring. experimenting with local materials, volunteers used bamboo wood to construct the dormitory walls.

those involved in the project comment: ‘we, the volunteers, were fortunate enough to be able to pursue our dreams of becoming future architects. we hope that, using what little skills we have, the phirun proiprai dormitory can be part of a small effort to allow those living in marginal areas the opportunity to pursue theirs as well.‘

project info:

location: bann nhong bua school, bann mor klue kee branch, mae usu, tha song yang, tak, thailand

program: a 20-person dormitory for students who are not able to commute to school every day.

area: 3.35m x 9.6m

time of construction: 28 days

budget: 170,000 baht ( 5,700.- us.$)

material: reinforced concrete, wood, bamboo, steel

designed & built by: students of faculty of architecture, chulalongkorn university, bangkok

team members: kanes nipatthiranant / natdanai tumpanuwat / arituch chainilpan / thanatip siriphonlai/ kita thapanaphannitikul / pholkrit visitsartkul / natdanai plewma / sansang chuaychu / peerawich thantawiroon / passakorn kasipol / passavit vittayathavornvong / tiwat kleawpatinon / kanin or. suthamanuswong / krittamet suksomprasong / potchara kasemsattayakorn / siraphop supavita / jitawat saowapan with all the particiapants of the 81st design built camp