A bitter goodbye

The Robot Building on Sathon Road is under restoration. (Photo: Thana Boonlert) The Robot Building on Sathon Road is a youth superhero that comes to life. Standing on staggered floorings, the chunky android is studded with nuts and bolts. Its head boasts metallic-lidded eyes and 2 interaction antennae and its frontal body is equipped with black glass and blue stripes like armour. It is allset to battle a beast in the metropolitan jungle. Unlike other highrises in the grey skyline, the Robot Building is more than my fictive creativity however is a living history of the late modern-day architecture of the 1980s. The Bank of Asia commissioned Sumet Jumsai Na Ayudhya, an designer and nationwide artist, to carryout the style of its headoffice. Inspired by his child’s robotic toys, he pictured the development of the monetary organization towards a hi-tech future. Yet, after serving for almost 4 years, the Robot Building is now under remodelling. Sumet sentout a letter to United Overseas Bank (UOB) Thailand, the existing owners, on March 29 to reveal issue that “the initial renowned function will not be kept” and this modernist heritage will “lose its considerable cultural status” and “be turned into yet another workplace structure”. He prompted that the bank protect the outside, however change whatever is required for the interior. Meanwhile, Tan Choon Hin, president and chief executive officer of UOB Thailand, reacted in a letter on April 4 that its redesign “prioritises individuals’s health and ecological sustainability”. It prepares to “redesign the outside, including an all-glazed skin to minimize carbon emissions and promote eco-friendliness”. It will “allocate a corner of the lobby to display a reproduction of the [old] developing”. Since then, civil society groups haveactually been calling for UOB Thailand to stop the remodelling of the outside. In late April, the We Love Robot Building Group, the Society for the Conservation of National Treasure and Environment (Sconte) and Docomomo Thai released a petition on Change.org, which hasactually gathered over 1,600 signatures. The Bangkok Post reached out to UOB Thailand. It stated “the remodelling hasactually been thoroughly prepared to balance the requirement for modernisation with regard for the developing’s initial structure”. It is not the just historical structure to fall, and it won’t be the last. Many renowned landmarks in the capital have endupbeing debris. The Robot Building in media, consistingof the Bangkok Post on March 31, 1997, listedbelow . (Photo: Thana Boonlert) “The Robot Building is a historic marker of shift from modernism to post-modernism,” stated Pongkwan Lassus, chair of Docomomo Thai, which is working to promote the Modern Movement, in an interview. “Its focus on function is particular of modernism, however its engagement with external look shows a shift to post-modernism. We desire to protect the structure for its historic and architectural worth.” Beginning in the early 20th century, modernism in architecture declined elaborate decor and focused on useful requirements. It is characterised by geometrical shapes and openings. Following its peak in the 1960-70s, modernism offered method to post-modernism in the 1980s. Examples of Thai structures following this design consistof the Chiang Rai Tobacco Office, Pipit Banglamphu, Grand Postal Building, Scala movietheater and lotsof others. In Pongkwan’s paper on heritage in threat, the Robot Building marks the financial boom and introduction of postmodern architecture in Asia. After seeing his child play with robotic toys, Sumet was captivated by “the intimate relationship inbetween male and maker” and integrated it
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