Nawit ONGSAVANGCHAI’s research while affiliated with Kyoto University and other places

This paper is a part of research entitled "Formation and transformation of Shophouse in the Old Town Areas, Thailand". The paper aims to clarify spatial formation and transformation of shophouse in the old Chinese quarter of Patani city, as a series of papers to discuss the formation of shophouse in Thailand. Chinese quarter in Patani is formed by the two basic road systems; roads running parallel with the river and roads running perpendicularly to the river, setting oblique gridiron pattern by eight blocks of irregular shape. According to the development of these road patterns, shophouses are built along the road-side and gradually expanded from the Chinese settlement to the present business center on the southeastern area of the quarter. The paper begins with a brief summary of Patani early history down to 5^ century but the main content is devoted to the history since 16^ century, then explicates formation and typology of shophouse in the old living quarter of Chinese immigrant, formed in the first half of 19^ century. The study aims to clarify the formation process of Patani focusing on the old Chinese settlement. It discusses the typology of shophouse and its relationship with the development and expansion of the city as well. Clarification of shophouse spatial organization and its transformation are also the main objectives of the research.

By the mid of 19^ century shophouse have became one of the most predominant urban architecture in Southeast Asian Countries, however, as an uncolonized country, the emergence and development of shophouse in Ratanakosin, the old core of Bangkok, were different from those of the neighboring Southeast Asian Countries. They were freely constructed without the control of any ordinances or building codes but were shaped by demand of the royalty and Privy Purse Bureau. They could enjoy full use of shophouse space without any requirement for the construction of front arcaded walkway. By this reason, although Ratanakosin shophouses were developed in the same period and influenced by those of neighboring countries, their formation process and spatial formation were different. This research demonstrates that with the fragmental and periodical city planning of Ratanakosin, shophouses formed to be the predominant urban form with their simple spatial patterns. This paper clarifies formation and distribution of shophouses. It also discusses the typology of shophouses and transformation of shophouse plans in order to obtain the basic conclusion for more comprehensive research of transformation process of shophouse spatial pattern in the following paper.