Wieng Kum Kam : visual integrity as preservation of cultural identity and collective memory

Ref.: 241
Key theme: 03 Visual integrity of historic urban landscapes
Date of reception: 14/11/2008

AUTHORS (*Main author)

PARONCINI, Alessio * (Italy) - Universita Politecnica Delle Marche
SRISUWAN, Charnnarong (Italy) - Università Politecnica delle Marche

ABSTRACT

The Department of Architecture Survey Design Urban Planning and History (DARDUS) of Polytechnic University of Marche, from several years takes care about valorisation of historical architectur in the territory, often in cooperation with asian institutions and Universities. In this case the activity of DARDUS involves the valorisation of historical town of Wieng Kum Kam, in north-west Thailand. Wieng Kum Kam was the ancient capital of Lanna Kingdom at the end of XIII century, before that this role was taken by Chiang Mai. Around XVII century, after a sequence of flood, Wieng Kum Kam was abandoned once and for all. From 1980 archaeologists rediscovered the ancient temples of the town. Today the temples are the main evidence of past in Wieng Kum Kam. Nowadays the site is involved in a process of strong building development that heavily changed its look in last ten or fifteen years, becoming a locality of the spread metropolis from Chiang Mai. Despite of this, the ancient ruins are the most distinctive trait of Wieng Kum Kam. The Thai FAD put the area of historical town under archaeological tie, preserving the temples about building abuse, so they are a fundamental part of Wieng Kum Kam urban landscape. Still today temples are also an important element of Wieng Kum Kam cultural identity and collective memory. The proof of this is the not accidental existence of modern temples linked to the ruins, as attestation of a worship continuity from past to present and future. Moreover in several ancient temples are nowadays signs of a modern worship on the ruins : often people who lives near the ruins put on it small statues, candles and other kind of offers. It means that still now the ruins are important landmarks for community living near them by urban landscape, collective memory and cultural identity point of view. Moving from these considerations DARDUS get a joint research project with Faculty of Architecture of Chiang Mai University (FACMU) centred on valorisation of historical part of the site. The first step of this project consists in giving a visual integrity, by three-dimensional reconstruction, to the ancient temples of Wieng Kum Kam, attempting to understand the original aspect of structures by measures taken dirctly on ruins, analysis on building materials and typology comparison with preserved temples and stupa, in the Lanna region, coeval with Wieng Kum Kam ones. We think that three-dimensional representation of temples could be an economical and affective way to help and improve the knowledge of the cultural specifity of Wieng Kum Kam. Moreover, to insert three-dimensional representation of temples in the urban relity of the site, we did a GIS about the current complexity of Wieng Kum Kam territory in which the temples are geo-referenced ; after that we linked the representation of temples to the GIS by an hyperlink in order to connect the visual reconstruction with current urban landscape. All work made on Wieng Kum Kam temples is archived in a graphic matrix as conclusion of knowledge phase.

REFERENCES

- J. Dumarçay, M. Smithies Cultural Sites of Burma, Thailand and Cambodia; Oxford University Press 1995, Kuala Lumpur

- G. Harbottle-Johnson Wieng Kum Kam, Atlantis of Lanna; Chiang Mai University 2002, Chiang Mai

- N. Sthapitanonda, B. Mertens Architecture of Thailand; Asia Books 2005, Bangkok

- G. Issini, N. Dang Minh Applicazioni di strumenti di analisi dell'architettura storica nelle cooperazioni internazionali in atti del convegno e-Arcom 2007 Sistemi Informativi per l'Architettura ; Alinea editrice 2007, Firenze