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Architect
Kotchakorn Voraakhom made her name showing how the effects of
climate change
can be mitigated by ensuring the issue is at the heart of city
planning (AFP
Photo/Lillian SUWANRUMPHA)
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Bangkok's future hangs in the balance.
Rising sea
levels, unchecked development, groundwater extraction, and rapid urban
population growth has left millions vulnerable to natural disasters --
scientists warn the city itself may not survive the century.
New
analysis by the Nestpick 2050 Climate Change City Index says the Thai capital
could be hardest hit by global warming.
And while
it is not alone facing such a threat -- Venice, New Orleans, and Jakarta are
predicted to be underwater by 2100 -- it does have a secret weapon in its
battle to negate the impact of a hotter planet: renowned architect Kotchakorn
Voraakhom who preaches mindful development over mindless construction.
"We
are talking life and death in this situation," says the 39-year-old who is
hoping to bring Bangkok back from the brink, as scientists warn extreme weather
-- flooding and droughts -- could ravage the city, leaving as much as 40
percent submerged in the next decade.
Kotchakorn
says: "I don't want to face it with fear. At this moment we have a chance to
make change... We have to do it right now to show the coming generations that
this is possible. It is not about sitting and waiting and doing the same
thing."
No one can
accuse the Harvard graduate of resting on her laurels: She made her name
showing how the effects of climate change can be mitigated by ensuring the
issue is at the heart of city planning.
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Kotchakorn
rails against Bangkok's unchecked development (AFP Photo/Lillian
SUWANRUMPHA)
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She and her
firm Landprocess created the internationally acclaimed Chulalongkorn University
Centenary Park, an 11-acre (4 hectares) space in central Bangkok, which tilts
downward at a three-degree angle, allowing rainwater to flow through the
flanking grass and wetlands.
Water
that's not absorbed by the plants runs down to a pond at the base of the park,
where it can be stored and filtered for use during dry spells or released
gradually. In cases of severe flooding, the park can hold up to a million
gallons of water.
Global
rising star
Kotchakorn
rails against Bangkok's unchecked development -- more than 10 million live in
the metropolis packed with skyscrapers, factories, malls and hotels -- warning
that an "addiction to growth" at all costs is jeopardising its
ability to thrive.
"We
think about how we're going to have more growth in our annual development...
What if we shift the orientation from growth to really consider our actions on
the environment, listen to the land more," she says.
"It
doesn't mean I am against development but I want it to be very meaningful, very
mindful, and at the right pace -- so we don't actually kill our future."
Today her
ideas have been embraced at home, and abroad -- she gave an acclaimed TED talk
in 2018, and last year TIME Magazine included her in its "100 Next"
list of global rising stars.
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Convincing
clients, authorities, and other businesses to see the big environmental
picture
has not been easy in a mega-city obsessed with economic targets and
expansion
(AFP Photo/Lillian SUWANRUMPHA)
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But
convincing clients, authorities, and other businesses to see the big
environmental picture has not been easy in a mega-city obsessed with economic
targets and expansion.
Driving
change as a woman in a patriarchal society has been an additional challenge,
but Kotchakorn insists there is "power" in being different,
particularly in an industry dominated by older men offering only
"conventional ways of thinking".
Many of her
ideas were initially dismissed, but she held firm, explaining: "I feel
that was based on their fear. But it's not my fear."
"Women
offer different kinds of judgement, different kinds of attitude towards
problems... We have to bring that diversity to the table and create better
decisions," she adds.
Things
must change
A turning point
came in 2011, when Thailand endured its worst floods in half a century, which
left more than 800 dead nationwide with hundreds of thousands displaced.
Bangkok, built on once-marshy land and surrounded by natural waterways, was
hard hit.
Then came
the World Bank warning that 40 percent of it would be inundated by 2030.
It was
clear then things needed to change, says Voraakhom, who grew up in the capital
and says air quality has deteriorated rapidly, as has food quality and security
because of the heavy use of pesticides.
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Hailing her
late mother as her inspiration, and her 11-year-old daughter as her
motivation,
Kotchakorn hopes her work will solve problems for generations to
come (AFP
Photo/Lillian SUWANRUMPHA)
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In 2018,
she created Asia's largest rooftop farm, which mimics the region's famed rice
terraces where run-off travels down layers of crops, conserving both water and
soil. Winding around the 22,400 square-metre (241,000 square-foot) rooftop is a
jogging path and a lawn.
Later this
year she will unveil plans to transform a vast, unused bridge crossing the Chao
Phraya river into a park with bicycle lanes, bringing more green space to a
place with precious little of it.
"If
you just do a normal building, it's just going to be the same. It's just
another building. But if you create (something new), you actually could touch
and change their way of living, their way of eating, their way of understanding
of sustainability."
Kotchakorn
has even greater ambitions for the city she grew up in -- she wants to
"reclaim" the more than 1,000 canals that snake through Bangkok that
are currently used for sewage.
"Canals
have so much life, so much potential to be public green space and a skeleton of
the whole city," she explains.
Hailing her
late mother as her inspiration, and her 11-year-old daughter as her motivation,
she hopes her work will solve problems for generations to come.
She says:
"Being a mother is really helping to push me to create hope and solutions
for the next generation. You see that the things you build will last after your
life."
