Research On Architectures Of Thailand Grand Palace In Rattanakosin Era

This research sought to assess the conceptual design and appearance of architectural design and the relationship between the social and cultural contexts in each of the influential eras on the conceptual and architectural designs of the throne hall in the Royal Grand Palace in Rattanakosin era. It is a case study of three throne halls comprising of Amarin Winitchai Throne Hall, Chakri Maha Prasat Throne Hall and Borom Rajsathit Maholarn Throne Hall with a comparative analysis of the Thai Royal Grand Palace and the Forbidden City of China in respect to historical background, concept, method, construction technology and architectural designs.The results of the research showed that social and cultural factors of each era have significantly affected conceptual design, architectural design, decoration composition and construction technology of the three throne halls; especially the social and economic contexts during King Rama IV reign, King Mongkut continuous to King Rama V reign which are the eras when various cities in Southeast Asia regions were colonized by western countries.. Therefore, Siam (name of Thailand) then had to agree to open up the country. There were trade conventions which were entered into effect with many Western countries, and it is necessary for Thailand to make changes to develop the country in all aspects of national sovereignty, whereby architecture, was one of those developments as can be seen from the throne hall built during that era. Such thrones like the Chakri Maha Prasat Throne Hall was built with the Western style architecture to represent the identity of a civilized country that followed the pattern of Western countries. The effects of the said opening of the country also resulted to the introduction of construction technology and modern building materials to construct various buildings in the country. This new innovation of modern construction in the country continues to the present as can be seen from the construction of Borom Rajsathit Maholarn Throne Hall10years ago (That is, there was a construction of the throne hall on a large scale building with more modern construction technology, and systems which were more complicated than in the past. with the same appearance as general typical modern buildings, whose external architectural design still remained Thai tradition architectural designs in accordance with the Thai way of belief). The interior decoration of the building was made in Western style to demonstrate the international aspect in the Thai traditional particular belief. Even though the three throne halls were affected by social and economic factors from foreign nations, the architectural design and construction technology especially Chakri Maha Prasat and Borom Rajsathit Maholarn Throne Hall still remain Thai cultural belief concerning the kingship of the three throne halls that were built in different time. The conceptual design of the throne hall and decoration items under the architectural design of Prasada makes the building a dwelling place of God according to the former time belief due to the King as the owner of the throne hall building in the royal grand palace. Such was compared as God reincarnated in the human world to relief sufferings and nourishing happiness to land and the people of the Kingdom. Therefore, the architectural design of the throne halls built up is deemed as a representation of the power of the King of Thailand, and being a design different from a common man’s house in every part of the composition of decoration with emphasis on the importance of expression through the cable roof with overlapping tiers in many steps with unique characteristic of decoration composition.In respect to the comparative study between the Thai Royal Grand Palace and the Forbidden City of China it was found that although the Forbidden City of China was built before the Thai Royal Grand Palace for approximately more than three hundred years and was with the size of place plan and keys throne hall buildings which were very much larger, the results of the analytical comparative study revealed that the Thai Royal Grand Palace and the Forbidden City of China are with similar natures in many aspects such as the royal palace built up by the Thai King as the center for administering his office and his personal dwelling place, the building is design in a unique characteristic design including the architecture and a variety of decoration designs with key factors from the belief regarding Deva Raja who reincarnated from the Heaven of the King alike. In respect of the construction technology of China’s Forbidden City similar nature of construction of the early Rattanakosin era throne hall were found i.e. construction with hard world as main principle, forming the structures with the method of wood coupling, with various bolts and spindles to hold construction as a building structure in accordance with the Chinese cultural construction system and were with the size and building structures which are larger than throne halls located in the Royal Thai Grand Palace.