or a continuous rooftop garden that serve as multipurpose spaces that are easily accessed but separated from all the private spaces. By actually involving the clients in the design process, CASE became an architect-consul- tant more than an architect-designer of the project. Yet, CASE’s role is crucial; it trans- formed the clients’ needs and visions into a final design that responds to each individual and to the whole community. TEN Osaka, completed in 2004, is the point of departure for TEN Bangkok. TEN BANGKOK TEN Bangkok responds to current housing problems in Bangkok. With the total provi- sion of upper income housing by the private sector and government aid to the lowest classes, Bangkok’s broad spectrum of middle classes are left without alternate housing strategies. Overpriced houses are out of reach, medium incomes are ineligible for aid. With this problem in mind, CASE Thailand shifted its focus to ideas of community. What would happen if individuals built strength through cooperation and collaboration with others. As a collective force, will they stand a chance against the brutal economic competi- tion in the housing world? As an individual each of them remains powerless, but as a community, both their economic and creative power may multiply. TEN Bangkok is a pilot project whose middle class inhabitants are architects; some are members of CASE Thailand. They lack buy- ing power, and alternate housing choice drew them together. All were in search of their ideal dwelling. Site selection: the land has to be affordable and accessible. Currently the site is not situ- ated in the most convenient location of the city however future expansion of Bangkok’s transportation system is taken into account. All aspects of the context are considered as a potential framework for the design. The project occupies a single plot of land, divided into ten equal subplots. Each inhab- itant is the designer of their own home, in mandatory design collaboration with their
neighbours. One could not simply insert one’s own design into the site without careful consideration and negotiation with others. Each inhabitant would therefore own a house in a place that also belongs to others.
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