Norman Foster-gate is over.

As part of the highly controversial River Promenade project by the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration, King Mongkut’s Institute of Technology Ladkrabang (KMITL) designed a landmark building that closely resembles Sir Norman Foster’s design for the Crystal Island Tower in Russia. The ensuing backlash has now prompted KMITL to withdraw the design, Assoc. Prof. Antika Sawatsri announced today.

The British starchitect’s design was unveiled in 2007, although the 2008-2009 financial crisis has put the project on hold indefinitely. Renowned local architect Duangrit Bunnag was one of the voices calling for Norman Foster to take legal action against the KMITL team.

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Sakul Hovanotayan, head of the design team, said their project was inspired by Thai religious architecture and that the similarity came from the designs being both computer-generated. He also asked if Foster was not the one copying Thai architecture.

Spokesperson Sawatsri also underscored that the design is being scrapped due to the public’s reaction, but that it is an original design.

The public outcry against KMITL underscores lingering doubts surrounding the BMA's large-scale riverside plan, reinforcing the sentiment it operates according to its own rules. In 2009, a plagiarised entry in the competition for Thailand's new parliament earned the offending architect a three-year license suspension. In contrast, this act of alleged plagiarism will not be investigated, according to the president of the Architects Council of Thailand’s ethics committee.

Originally, the BMA said an impact assessment plan was not needed for the Riverside Promenade. Following a public outcry, the city hall hired KMITL to formulate a new plan. Now that KMITL has been tainted by this scandal, it lends more weight to voices saying the KMITL study is at best incompetent and at worst a whitewashing of the BMA's plans.

The Riverside Promenade is a 14km long stretch of concrete that encroaches on the already narrow waterway by up to 19 meters and bars access to the river for many long-standing communities. It has been decried as an environmental and social disaster by Duangrit Bunnag and the Friends of the River association.

The scandal also underscores a widening rift in the architectural profession. Another outspoken critic of the KMITL design, Rangsit University’s Dean of Architecture, Narupol Chaiyot was sent a “warning letter” (he does not specify the source) stating that rule number 17 of the architect’s code of ethics bars them from investigating another architect’s work and that rule 19 prohibits discrediting another architect’s work.

Earlier this month, a light show at luxury condominium Mahanakhon triggered a response from ultranationalists who questioned the legality of the building, given that it was designed by Ole Scheeren and that foreign architects are barred from practising in Thailand. In the ensuing debate, younger architects like Bunnag and Vaslab called for the profession to be more open. But it’s increasingly clear there is an old guard that wishes to keep things as they are and will fight them to keep it that way. In our opinion, any major public landmark in Bangkok should be open to an international competition designed to attract original designs from the very best, such as Norman Foster—instead of tired copies by old professors who happen to be cozy with the current regime.


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