Practicing with Empathy: PAVA Architects' Pacharapan Ratananakorn on Constraints, Opportunities, and Keeping Standards

By Julia Gamolina

Pacharapan Ratananakorn is a co-founder of PAVA Architects, based in Bangkok. PAVA is an interdisciplinary practice, responding to local culture, economics, the environment, and climate. PAVA practices across disciplinary boundaries and conducts research to holistically revive, adapt, and transform architecture, interior architecture, landscape architecture, and urbanism.

In 2023, PAVA received Commended from AR New into Old Awards by the Architectural Review for Kaomai Museums and Tea Barn project. In 2018, PAVA was awarded UNESCO Asia-Pacific Awards for Cultural Heritage Conservation in ‘New Design in Heritage Contexts’ category and Mark Winner, Golden Pin Design Award for Kaomai Estate 1955, master plan and adaptive-reuse project.

Pacharapan practices as an architect, an interior architect, and an urban designer. She is also an adjunct lecturer at Chulalongkorn University. Pacharapan received a Bachelor Degree of Architecture and Interior Architecture at Chulalongkorn University and Master Degree of Urban Design at ETH Zurich.

JG: Tell me about your foundational years — where did you grow up and what did you like to do as a kid?

PR: I grew up in Lopburi, a historic city in Thailand that has many layers of culture and architecture in different periods blended together. Living in such a serene atmosphere and slow way of living shaped my foundational years. As a kid, I really liked drawing and reading, which helped realize ideas in my mind and helped me figure out my curiosity.

I would sometimes stay in different towns in Thailand following my parents, which gave me the chance to see different local ways of living. I also always participated in local cultural activities and rituals about life, from birth to death, which allowed me to learn about the uncertainty of life and how to appreciate it all.

Mekong House, Loei, Thailand. Photo by Spaceshift Studio.

How did you choose where you started architecture?

I chose to study architecture following my interest in drawing and my appreciation for the spatial needs of every day human life. Starting with a Bachelor degree at Chulalongkorn University, I had the opportunity to learn in a wide range of scales, starting from the very intimate and every day to the larger scale of architecture and the built-environment.

After graduation and work, I got my Masters degree in urban design at the ETH Zurich. Studying at a bigger scale gave me the opportunities to see the big picture of urbanization, migration, and climate change, which transform our ways of living, as well as global resources.

“We create seamless designs and prefer not to build unnecessarily...We’re most focused on creating alternative design strategies for resiliency, affordability, and inclusivity.”

— Pacharapan Ratananakorn

Tell me about PAVA — why you started the firm and how it has evolved over the years. What are you focused on these days?

We started PAVA to explore our belief in interdisciplinary practice and research in environmental design fields. We create seamless designs and prefer not to build unnecessarily. We believe that practicing in design needs to reflect the invisible layers of politics, economics, culture, and the environment.

PAVA has been evolving and responding to critical and urgent challenges of urbanization, environmental degradation, and climate change. We’re most focused on creating alternative design strategies for resiliency, affordability, and inclusivity. We are also focused on developing a holistic design system and considering the design practice as a growing process, which can be revived, adapted, and transformed.

How would you summarize the experience of practicing in Bangkok, and in Thailand? What is unique about the way architecture is designed and made here?

In Thailand, we often face uncertainty. During the initial shaping of the project, everything can be changed depending on client needs, political change, an economic crisis, etc., so we need to be resilient to work in these situations. Often, we need to build with limited resources, which could be both a constraint and an opportunity of making architecture here.

Kaomai Tea Barn. Photo by Spaceshift Studio.

Kaomai Museum. Photo by Spaceshift Studio.

Looking back at it all, what have been the biggest challenges? How do you manage through perceived disappointments or setbacks?

The biggest challenge could be the survival of the practice. Practicing architecture with empathy while maintaining built quality in an unequal society is challenging. Encountering disrespect, irresponsibility, and exploitation can obstruct projects. To deal with this challenge, we do not only respect the context as we always do, but also we try to listen and communicate well in each project. Most importantly, we keep our standard, respect ourselves and continue to stabilize our team.

What have you also learned in the last six months?

This moment, we have learned to embrace changes and enjoy the process. In practicing architecture, projects take a really long time to complete. We have learned to keep our balance in work, education, and life.

“Communication sincerely is crucial. Difficulty during the process happens normally. Working with people who are honest and respect teams will bring trust in working environment and lead to success of projects.”

— Pacharapan Ratananakorn

What are you most excited about right now?

I’m excited about actualizing our upcoming projects and about teaching in universities. When our work and thoughts come to life and become useful, we are always excited and delighted.

Who are you admiring now and why?

I admire sincere and honest people. In the design and construction fields, we always work with a lot of different people — clients, engineers, designers, contractors, experts, etc. Communicating sincerely is crucial. Difficulty during the process happens normally. Working with people who are honest and who respect their teams will bring trust to the working environment and lead to successful projects.

Re-Balcony Research. Photo by Ketsiree Wongwan.

What is the impact you’d like to have on the world? What is your core mission? And what does success in that look like to you?

I always want to create a better built environment not only for private clients, but for the public. An environment of good quality generates a good source of energy and life. We believe that design can be empowering and inspiring, which gives us hope for the future.

We have been working in professional practice and education with the hope for better living quality for all. Success for me can come in many forms; it could be achievement step-by-step, it could be happiness of involving people, and it could be changing of people’s livelihood as a whole.