Elephant Museum in Thailand: the revenge of Ganesh

The lives of humans and elephants are united in Thailand more than anywhere else in the world: here the elephant is a God, a symbol of power, an integral member of the family. In the rural village of the ethnic Kui in the northeastern province of Surin, which has the highest number of domesticated elephants in the country, destructive land-use policies have reduced the forest to a wasteland where the Kui and the animals have suffered drought and famine, having to migrate to the cities for an often impossible redemption as pitiful tourist attractions. Bangkok Project Studio's Elephant Museum is part of Elephant World, a project launched by the government to return the Kui and elephants to their homeland and provide them with adequate living conditions, as well as to encourage knowledge of and respect for this animal and its ecosystem.

The museum is not only a cultural container but also a place to revive local economy: more than 4,800,000 bricks of local baked clay, traditionally handmade, were used in the construction to create jobs and income for the population. The building emerges as a sculpture from the reddish landscape, with its curved walls at varying heights that tilt and criss-cross, marking access points and separating the external corridors from the exhibition galleries and adjacent spaces (library, seminar room, cafeteria).

Courtyards of different shapes and sizes attract inhabitants, visitors and elephants to cool off in the water pools and shaded areas.

Sunlight is a building material and an essential design element of Kahnian memory: lighting that is switched on in some places and dimmed in others, with changing effects depending on the time of day, animates the exhibition spaces both inside and outside with vibrant chiaroscuro effects.

The God Ganesh smiles: after decades of deprivation, the Kui and their elephants have finally regained their pride and dignity.