:  Knowledge Center
   of Chachoengsao
:  2008-2012
:  Municipality of Chachoengsao
:  Muang, Chachoengsao

:  8,000 sq.m. 
:  4,800 sq.m.

:  Research Studio Panin  

   Tonkao Panin
   Tanakarn Mokkhasmita 

:  Nivet Lamlertlaksanachai

:  Kanitha Songsakulchai

   Somchart Jityai

   Soonthorn Nampetch
:  Theerakarn Pattana

:  Spaceshift Studio

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Knowledge Center of Chachoengsao is essentially a library, whose definition is open for contemporary interpretation. Commissioned by the Municipality Office of Chachoengsao, the project is a design collaboration between the Faculty of Architecture, Silpakorn University and Research Studio Panin.  Located among the many schools of the city of Chachoengsao, and initially intended to be a library for local youth, the building has become a destination for children of all ages.

The aim of the Municipality Office of Chachoengsao is to create a living library that hosts not only books, but also many other forms of media, all providing both knowledge and entertainment. The idea of study and play together already demands the type of spaces different from conventional classroom and library.  It requires spaces of greater freedom of choices and movements, as well as atmosphere that is both formal and playful, in order to generate the type of casual and continuous learning.

Within the four main floors, the building houses exhibition area, libraries, media center, a cinema, a music studio, auditorium, seminar rooms, meeting rooms and other multipurpose spaces.  The project is also a result of collaborative network between Knowledge Center of Chachoengsao and TK Park in Bangkok. Various spaces represent different types of knowledge, their interconnections mean casual relationship between activities that are at once distinct and related.

The building’s appearance is intended to be silent, letting the lives and activities inside to take shape. It chooses not to speak, but withdrawing itself into a tacit background of different types of learning and knowledge it houses. As the local youngsters move through its spaces, the building is immediately read and reread, interpreted and reinterpreted. With the spaces and activities it contains, the building and its users are united, forming a part of knowledge it is intended to house.