The Italian Cultural Institute of Bangkok is pleased to support and promote the BARRICADES project, part of the DEX (Design Experimentation Workshop) program, which brings together creativity, sustainability, and international cooperation in the fields of design and architecture, in collaboration with INDA – the International Program in Design and Architecture at Chulalongkorn University. DEX is an annual workshop program launched by the INDA Program, Faculty of Architecture, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok.
BARRICADES was created in a global context marked by climate and environmental crises, which increasingly affect many regions of Asia and the world through extreme weather events, pollution, and loss of biodiversity. The construction sector is currently responsible for about 40% of global energy consumption, 36% of energy-related CO₂ emissions, and more than one third of solid waste. Building materials commonly used today are often non-renewable, energy-intensive, and transported over long distances, with severe environmental and social consequences.
BARRICADES presents itself as an act of creative resilience, an ecological building practice based on reuse, reinterpretation, and the enhancement of what already exists, avoiding the waste of new resources. The “barricade” thus becomes a manifesto of collective intelligence: it uses existing materials and the very ground on which it stands, rejects the use of raw materials, and celebrates what is available, local, and immediate.
Historically built with barrels, stones, and wood found on site, the barricade is transformed into a contemporary symbol—not only a defensive structure, but also a device for temporary, sustainable, and community-based construction. The project invites us to rethink architecture as a collective act of regeneration, attentive to context, the environment, and the community.
Each group will be involved in the construction of a full-scale (1:1) barricade, using exclusively locally sourced materials.