K. Roachanakanan¹ and A.B. Nichols²

1. Ph.D. Candidate, Department of Architecture, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77743-3137
2. Assistant Professor, Department of Architecture, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77743-3137 anichols@tamu.edu

ABSTRACT

The Suankularb Building has been used as a school building for Suankularb College founded by King Rama the Fifth in 1884. The 200 metre-long building, which reflects the early influence of European Architecture in Thailand, was built in 1910. The importance of the building is that it had been used as the first public high school in Thailand, and that it is the longest building without a construction joint built in the late nineteenth century. The school building had suffered from major structural problems due to settlement of the central segment of the building. The building was declared a historically significant building in 1987 by the Thai government. This paper documents the history and construction of the original building, outlines the damage to the building from ground settlement, and presents the repair techniques adopted including the use of micro-piles to stabilize the settlement of the central portion of the building. The preservation of this building presented a significant challenge in the reconstruction process, as the settling footings needed to be stabilized and the heavily damaged masonry needed to be supported and then repaired.

KEYWORDS: masonry walls, renovation, settlement, historic preservation

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