BA: Faculty of Business Administration_Renovation

Concept

BA: Faculty of Business Administration Renovation

Location: Rajamangala University of Technology ISAN (RMUTI), Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand

“A Second Climate: BA Retrofitting at RMUTI Campus”

The renovation of the Faculty of Business Administration (BA) building at RMUTI approaches the structure as an Architectural Palimpsest. Here, the original 1999 Modernist building remains visible, serving as a foundational narrative layer upon which our contemporary, sustainable retrofit—the "Second Climate” is inscribed by TH Studio Architects. By choosing this path, we avoid the heavy carbon cost of demolition, instead of choosing to honor and evolve the existing form.

Strategic

Preserve - retain the existing structure and useful embodied resources.

Protect - filter direct tropical sunlight and rain while maintaining daylight and airflow.

Inhabit - transform ordinary circulation into shaded climatic thresholds.

Re-identify - turn environmental infrastructure into a renewed campus presence

Erected as the university's foundational administrative structure, the Modernist BA building faced escalating functional and aesthetic obsolescence after decades of service. The aim of this renovation was to proactively address these challenges and transform the facility into a contemporary, functional, and inspiring learning environment.

Rather than altering the building's educational purpose, this retrofit modernizes the structure by introducing a responsive, lightweight screen facade. The "Second Climate" is an architectural and spatial strategy that introduces this new, engineered layer to fundamentally transform how space is experienced. It acts as an active mediator between the tropical external environment (the first climate) and the building's interior, regenerating the social space on two distinct levels:

The Physical Layer (Environmental Control)

The creation of a comfortable, sustainable microclimate through architectural interventions that filter sunlight and rainwater, reduce heat gain, and optimize natural ventilation. This intervention turns previously unusable or transitional zones into functional, comfortable habitats.

The Cultural Layer (Social Atmosphere)

The intentional cultivation of a new psychological and social environment. By integrating Co-created with the Visual Art Department, collaborative practices, and a strong visual narrative through ceiling paintings depicting local seasonal activities, the intervention changes the "feeling" of the space, creating an atmosphere that fosters interaction, identity, and institutional pride.

In short, the project focuses on the building’s shared edges: corridors, balconies and gathering spaces that support everyday encounters beyond the classroom. Together, these interventions support the use of circulation spaces as places to pause, meet, and spend time between classes.

TH Studio Architects designed the "Second Climate" as a holistic renewal of both the building's physical temperature and its cultural atmosphere, breathing completely new life into an aging structure, describes the relationship between these environmental and cultural interventions—a renovation that connects the continued use of an existing building with the daily life and identity of its university community.