Our Apéritif series returns with thingsmatter, based in Bangkok, Thailand.
thingsmatter is committed to architecture as both a critical discipline and a fine art, as an instrument for cultural enlightenment rather than narrow economic gain. The studio’s early work in Bangkok includes a series of temporary interventions in commercial spaces which criticized the consumer culture that hosted them, while celebrating the opportunity for communication to a diverse audience, and the material extravagance that only shopping malls can realistically provide. Recent work extends the working methods, tactility, and human scale of thingsmatter’s event architecture to more conventional building programs, including private residences that offer public statements on the nature of the contemporary city.
Savinee Buranasilapin and Tom Dannecker grew up in urban Thailand and rural Wisconsin, respectively. They met at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, before continuing their education at Princeton University’s School of Architecture. While working with other companies in Bangkok and New York, they co-founded the design studio thingsmatter in 2001, registering it officially in Bangkok 2005.
Besides their design practice, Buranasilapin and Dannecker have worked with several academic institutions. In Bangkok, they have taught, lectured, and conducted workshops at Chulalongkorn, Kasetsart, Rangsit, Silpakorn, and Bangkok Universities. They’ve also lectured about their work abroad, including at the graduate architecture programs of Princeton, Harvard, and Columbia.