SPCS Talks vol.1 ｜Creating a Learning Space for Biodiversity Kaomai Estate 1955 (Chiang Mai, Thailand)

Biodiversity is a key factor in preserving the balance of our environment. Yet the speed at which species are heading for extinction has increased since the 1970s. In merely 30 years, 68% of all species on earth have gone extinct. And today, an estimated 100 species go extinct daily. Even if we call for more conservation efforts, humans rarely change their behavior. How should we then rebuild the biodiversity in our ecosystems while fulfilling human needs and tailoring to the human ego? For that purpose, the practices we have taken for granted have to be re-evaluated, and we propose adopting a new mindset that allows nature to take its own course.

SPCS is a community that explores new ways of partnering with non-human species instead of trying to control them. Here, we introduce trailblazers who have found unique ways to approach what others would consider as ‘errors’ or ‘unruly’ in nature, or creators who are devising new methods of co-creation with nature that will still satisfy human needs.

Each session will feature speakers who are experimenting in various fields, and will be recorded and shared online in an archive. For sessions which are held offline, we also set aside time for participants to mix and interact. We hope that this will birth new collaborations among participants from diverse backgrounds.

Our first guests come from Chiang Mai, Thailand, Kaomai Estate 1955’s Director Chak Chen and landscape architect Patchara Khongsuphol.

Kaomai Estate 1955 is part of a resort facility sitting on the site of a former tobacco processing estate. Taking inspiration from the Meiji Shrine in Tokyo, the estate aims to transform into a place to educate visitors on both the biodiversity of the ecosystem and the architectural heritage of the site.

The estate is an important home for a multitude of bird and other fauna species, yet also functioned for over 60 years as a tobacco processing plant. The careful restoration of the grounds manages to balance both the natural and architectural heritage. Today, in addition to the survey of the ecosystem on site, they plan to launch an educational program using AR that will allow visitors to learn from afar.

How will they continue to tie the history of the land into the ecosystem and what new environments are they creating with these new interventions? In this session, we hear more about how the Kaomai Estate 1955 team entwines modern living with our natural ecology.

There have been over 120 species of trees identified in Kaomai Estate 1955. Over half of these are native species and the oldest trees are over 100 years old. Over 36 species of birds and mammals have been recorded. Kaomai Estate 1955 was awarded the UNESCO Asia-Pacific Award for Cultural Heritage Conservation in New Design in Heritage Contexts in 2018, the Golden Pin Design Award from Taiwan Design Research Institute, the TALA Award from the Thai Association of Landscape Architects and the Chiang Mai Design Awards in 2017. 

Today, the team has embarked on a new project to rewild 1.2 hectares of the grounds. This area will be set aside as a conservation area where wildlife will be protected, and also used as an educational tool to provide insight on sustainable living in the city. 

Almost 7 hectares (1.5 times the area of the Tokyo Dome) was once a tobacco processing plant but third-generation owner Chak Chen transformed it into a resort. The above image illustrates part of the research carried out on the ecology of the area.

FabCafe’s global team has also designed many creative learning programs for companies and schools. (The forest research at Kaomai Estate 1955 using AR is supported by FabCafe Bangkok)

Therefore, at the event, we will also introduce FabCafe’s past cases in Japan and overseas. Takeya Shida from Hidakuma, who has designed and implemented training programs for companies and universities in Japan and overseas, will also speak at the cross-talk session.

17:00-17:45　Case Study「Kaomai Estate 1955」

• Chak Chen（Kaomai Estate 1955 Director）
  
• Patchara Khongsuphol（Landscape Architect）
  
• Intervening in the disused environment
  
  • Human intervention and Accepting Nature’s Design
    
  • Thinking about native and non-native species
    
• Tobacco Processing to Resort to Ecological Education
  • Who is this education for?
    
  • AR program
    
• Q&A
  

17:45-18:00　Designing a Learning Program for Biodiversity

• Urano Nami（FabCafe Kyoto SPCS）

18:00-18:30　Cross-talk

• Chak Chen（Kaomai Estate 1955 Director）
• Patchara Khongsuphol（Landscape Architect）
• Shida Takeya（Hidakuma Forest・Local Exchange Producer）
  
• Nami Urano（FabCafe Kyoto SPCS）
  

18:30-19:00　Mixer

• Those involved in eco-tourism and local tourism and related infrastructure.
• Those involved in education and looking for programs for biodiversity and ecosystems.
• Architects and developers interested in incorporating biophilic design into city planning and landscape design
• Researchers and artists interested in plants, insects and microscopic organisms
• Researchers interested in circular design and planning

Date
10th February 2023（Friday）17:00-19:00

Participants

20

Admission Fee

Participation is free（However, we request that all participants order a minimum of 1 drink） ※ Online viewing post-event will be free

Location

FabCafe Kyoto（京都府京都市下京区本塩竈町554）

Organizer

FabCafe Kyoto / Loftwork Kyoto

To note　

• If there are too many sign-ups, there may be a possibility that we choose participants through a raffle. We ask for your understanding on this matter.
• Photos of participants and the event may be uploaded to the FabCafe Kyoto/Loftwork.com website at a later date
• We reserve the right to change this program with no prior notice.
  

Microbiomes, radiation, viruses, bacteria – these uncontrollable forces of nature are often dismissed as errors or dangerous. However, can we reclaim the view of this uncontrollable biodiversity and propose a new positive way of creatively designing for and with these ‘errors’? That is the purpose of the community SPCS.