Muang Thong Thani
I want to introduce an entirely unique example of suburban development in Bangkok. I'm talking about Muang Thong Thani (MTT), an edge city about 40km north of Bangkok's CBD. I remember visiting this place a few years ago when the construction was still going on. Big bulldozers are everywhere. Billboard signs scattered around the place. From what I heard it's a very different story today. Everywhere you look in Muang Thong Thani, there's empty parking lots, unkept verges and overgrown weeds. The buildings are all finished but the place doesn't seem alive and well, like a city.
I still think Muang Thong Thani is worthy as an architectural case study. It provides an interesting departure from today's conventional suburban development of detached dwellings, golf course estates type of development. The architect is said to have been inspired by the lined boulevard of great European cities, and all the idea that goes into making this city a reality is anything but, Utopia. MTT is also unique because this is one of the few projects in Bangkok that is forward thinking as far as infrastructure and services provision is concern.
With an estimated construction cost of $US1 Bn,
it has to be said MTT is the biggest satellite city development ever undertaken in Bangkok and perhaps the largest 100% privately financed city of this scale.This is a fully self-contained development capable of accommodating 150,000 people. The city aim to cater for all the functions, living, working and leisure activity.
The range of accommodation at MTT varies. At the lower market there are popular condominiums, targeted at generally lower paid public servants. These condominiums are sold as housing co-operatives and only to provide minimal, affordable bylaw housing. In a stark contrast, at the upper end of the market there are the Lakeview condominiums. These are more sophisticated, villa styled serviced apartments.
The Kanjanapas family who made their business fortune from various ventures spent over 40 years assembling land for the project. In 1989, at the height of Bangkok's building frenzy, Anant Kanjanapas, CEO of Bangkok Land Co.Ltd, decided the time was right to take a big gamble. And the billion dollar gamble it was to be.
When the project first televised commercial appear back in 1989, it had taken the Bangkok public by surprise. Soon, over 60% of the project were sold out. Over time the market sentiments however tells a different story. It appears that the majority of the buyers are merely interested to speculate to sell, rather than living there themselves. The usually status concious Thai seems never to have bought into the idea of living in a big highrise 'condo' in the first place (including flats, mult-storey buildings for that matter). The statistic also reinforced this perception. According to a recent survey by CB Richard Ellis, to date there are over 330,000 vacant condominium units in Bangkok, while only a handful of thousands detached dwellings were unoccupied.
Then when the MTT project ran deep into trouble, Bangkok Land Co. approach the government to convinced it to locate many of its offices there. The idea was well received by politician at first but the plan did not eventuate, although Bangkok Land Co, one of Thailand's largest property development company still manage to stay afloat. Interesting enough, Bangkok Land's sister company, Tanayong (whose chairman was another Kanjapas brother) is also the developer of the Skytrain in Bangkok.
Because MTT is a large scale commercial venture it is never far from critics (and I dare say skeptics). The project was often branded a failure because it is a failed commercial venture. What is often overlook was its technological ingenuity that goes into making a reality. Had the government initiated, funded and subsidised this project, it may have well been a different story. But then again this project may never have got off the ground.
To leave us in a more positive note, the MTT project was given a new lease of life in December 1998, when Bangkok played host to the quadrennial Asian Games event. The Muang Thong Thani site are among the key venues where this event was staged. Sporting facilities including a new 20,000 seat stadium have been built at nearby Thammasat University (Rangsit Campus). Many unoccupied low-rise condominiums were successfully converted into an Athelete village. The developer even tried to convince the government to relocate their offices in the new town. MTT continue to be a drawcard for major events organiser, for example it staged annual World Amateur Muay Thai championship, indoor soccer (futsal) competition among other events. The new Bangkok International Trade and Exhibition Centre (BITEC) is also located nearby.
Location: Chaeng Wattana Rd, Rangsit, Bangkok
Construction status: completed 1994
Estimated Cost: $US 1 billion
Developer: Bangkok Land Co., Ltd.
Consultants: Nation Fenders (architecture);
M&E consultants, MAA Consultants (structural engineers); W&Associate Consultants; Sindhu Pike Bodell, Transport Planning Consultants (Traffic Engineering); Tract Consultants (landscape architecture).
Contractors: Bouygues-Thai, Seum Intergroup, BKK General Contractors, K&B Construction.
SOURCE: ARCHITECTURE AUSTRAILA MAGAZINE, JULY / AUGUST 1993
More of BKK satellite city projects including SVCity and the M City project, Bangna
