Intentions

To contribute and provide a legacy of national and international significance in developing new ideas of a healthy development along the Mekong basin in Vientiane within the context of architecture and urban planning that are socially, economically, and environmentally responsive for the Laotian communities.

To define some of the key issues in developing the area of Don Chan, and then to develop a conceptual design to demonstrate an alternative development as an option to provide a framework for its continued expansion.

To present a conceptual thinking for the development of the site through the studies of Lao villages and the concept of water-land geography.

Solutions

The dissertation examined and explored the concept of “Baan” or Lao village, and the concept of Water-Land Geography. 

These concepts includes the studies of Lao villages pattern, arrangements, and organizations including the physical grouping, the social grouping pattern and building types with relation to the climatic and geological pattern of the Mekong River such as flood-prone areas, flow of water, water pattern, seasonal change, relationship to the landscape, relationship to the Lao villages and their adaptations

Because the location of the site involves the Mekong River, the fluctuation of water levels during different seasons is one of the important design criteria in this project.  As a result, the design would reflect and respond to the two distinct seasons in Laos:  Dry and Wet season