Kotchakorn Voraakhom is a Thai urban landscape architect, one whose excellent work promotes the philosophy of porosity. She founded Porous City Network in 2016 by bringing together several creative technicians in her native Bangkok. For this globally widespread avant-garde vision, porous architecture is not so much fragmented as it is thirsty.
Her project two years ago was a prime example: turning the sprawling roof of Thammasat University campus in Bangkok into an immense ‘hanging farm’: 22 hectares containing a system of green terraces that can generate sustainable food (mindful to accommodate Thai rice), sustainable energy, social space and, above all, water reuse for urban gardens.
Southeast Asia is the region with the world’s largest coastline. It borders the sea continuously. And because of climate change the megacities situated on its banks risk flooding. Kotchakorn’s answer—inspired by Porous designs—deals not with barriers, like huge impacting dams, but with new breathable parks that accommodate water in cities. Kotchakorn Voraakhom can teach us how to save the planet by blurring its terrestrial borders.