The Passenger Terminal at Suvarnabhumi International Airport and Thai Identity in the Midst of Globalization Era

Main Article Content

Koompong Noobanjong

Abstract

Aside from functioning as a strategic instrument for modernization process and economic development,
international airports represent a material embodiment for cultural identity of their host nations as evident from
the architecture of passenger terminals around the world. Via semiological and phenomenological theories,
this article presents a critical inquiry on the passenger terminal at Suvarnabhumi International Airport in Thailand
in both cultural and social dimensions. The research also investigates the complex dynamism of the Thai
identity discourse (known as Thainess or khwampenthai) during the age of globalization, which has resulted in
contradictory readings on the building’s ultra-modern appearance in terms of a dichotomy between place-ness
and placeless-ness. Not only do the aforementioned studies reveal paradoxical characteristics of the Thai
identity through the complexity, incongruity, and contradiction in architectural signification by the passenger
terminal at Suvarnabhumi, but critical examinations on the design of this aviation facility further expose some
fundamental problems in the discourse of Thainess as well.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Article Details

Section
Articles

References

Airport of Thailand Public Company [AOT]. (2006). Suvarnabhumi Airport. Bangkok, Thailand: Bangkok Post Special Publication.

Association of Siamese Architects Under Royal Patronage [ASA]. (1997, May 14). Letter to the Prime Minister concerning the design of the passenger terminal complex (091/2540). Bangkok, Thailand: Author.

Bachelard, G. (1969). The poetics of space. Boston: Beacon Press.

Bhagwati, J. (2007). In defense of globalization. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Chavalnsipla, B. (2002). สู่ฝันสุวรรณภูมิ [Realizing the dream of the second Bangkok international airport]. Bangkok, Thailand: Dokya Group Publishing.

Chomsky, N. (2006, February 22). ZNet, corporate globalization, Korea and international affairs. Personal interviewed by Sun Woo Lee. Monthly Joong Ang. Retrieved November 20, 2006, from http://www.zmag.org/znet/viewArticle/4362

Confusing, tiring first at new airport. (2006, September 29). Bangkok Post, sec. A.

Croucher, S. L. (2004). Globalization and belonging: The politics of identity a changing world. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.

General Engineering Consultant. (1995, October 10). Inception report on the passenger terminal complex. Bangkok, Thailand: Author.

General Engineering Consultant. (1995, September 22). Inception report on the second Bangkok international airport. Bangkok, Thailand: Author.

General Engineering Consultant. (1996, January 11). Critical analysis on the design of the passenger terminal complex. Bangkok, Thailand: Author.

Goodman, N. (1968). Languages of art: An approach to a theory of symbols. Indianapolis, IN: Bobbs-Merrill. Heidegger, M. (1971). Poetry, language, thought. New York: Harper & Row.

Husserl, E. (1958). Ideas: General introduction to pure phenomenology. New York: Macmillan.

Kessing, R. (1989). Creating the past: Custom and identity in the contemporary pacific. Contemporary Pacific 1, (1&2), 19-42.

Mahitthirook, A. (2006, October 21). Deputy PM says airport is embarrassing AOT ordered to stop thinking of expansion. Bangkok Post. sec. A.

Ministry of Transportation. (1961). A study for site suitability for the second Bangkok international airport. Bangkok, Thailand: GPO.

Ministry of Transportation. (1991, April 22). The second Bangkok international airport (0207/3819). Bangkok, Thailand: Author.

Mugerauer, R. (1994). Interpretations on behalf of places: Environmental displacements and alternative responses. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press.

Murphy Jahn Architects [MJTA]. (1997, July 6). Letter to the Association of Siamese Architects Under Royal Patronage concerning the design of the passenger terminal complex. Bangkok, Thailand: Author.

Murphy/Jahn Architects. (2006). New Bangkok international airport. Current Works. Retrieved October 29, 2006, from http://www.murphyjahn.com/english/frameset_intro.htm

National Council for Economic and Social Development. (1961). The first national plan for economic and social developments: 1961-1966. Bangkok, Thailand: GPO.

Nawarat, C. (1997). เปลยนเอกล ่ี กษณ ั ์ เฮลมตุ ยาหน์ เปนเอกล ็ กษณ ั ไทยได ์ หร ้ อไม ื ?่ [Can Helmut Jahn identity be changed to Thai identity?]. Architectural Journal of the Association of Siamese Architects Under Royal Patronage, July, 142-146.

Noam Chomsky chats with Washington Post readers. (2006, March 24). Washington Post. Retrieved November 24, 2006, from http://www.chomsky.info/debates/20060324.htm

Office of the Prime Minister. (1991, May 7). Cabinet meeting resolutions on the second Bangkok international airport. Bangkok, Thailand: Author.

Rojanaphruk, P. (2006, October 1). Suvarnabhumi: A traveller’s lament. The Nation, sec. A.

Saussure, de, Bally, C., Sechehaye, A., Riedlinger, A., & Baskin, W. (1966). Course in general linguistics. New York: McGraw-Hill Book.

Stefanovic, I. (1998). Phenomenological encounters with places: Caveat to square one. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 18:1(Spring), 31-44.