Nationalism and urban design: the parliament houses of Canberra and Bangkok

Re-writing history, re-inscribing the city: Thailand and delusions of democracy

“…The National Assembly building in a high-modernist, Corbusian-derived, International Style dates from 1970–1974 (King 2011: 183–185); it was designed by Phol Julsavek of the Public Works Commission. While the building lacked explicit national referencing except for an identifying badge montaged over its ceremonial entrance, its forecourt received a seated statue of King Prajadhipok (r.1925–1933) (Sintusingha and King, 2021). Its demolition began in 2019.…”

“…Topping the composition is Phra Siamthewathirat , the protective spirit of the proto nation-state, created by Rama IV. A remaining concern: how will democracy be curated in the Democracy Museum—as an expression of the sovereignty of the people or as the gift of a benevolent monarch, following the now-sanctioned, royal-military narrative (Sintusingha and King, 2021)?…”

“…So Washington would display references to variously imagined origins in a Roman Republic and a French Enlightenment; London’s pseudo-Gothic Houses of Parliament would claim origins in the imagined verities of a medieval past; Edwin Lutyens bestows a British-imagined Mughal past on multi-cultural Delhi. More recently, Malaysia’s administrative capital of Putrajaya claims a diversity of wished-for Middle Eastern antecedents in what is effectively a pastiche of architectures and references, while excluding other visions of origin (King, 2008; Sintusingha and King, 2021).…”