Nong Tong Lim, Thailand (Revisited)
- Original Project: December 2008
- Revisited: September 2015
In September 2015 Boonanan Natakul and David O’Brien returned to the clinic at Nong Tong Lim to see how the pavilion was faring. The clinic workers explained that the pavilion was used most heavily in the dry season (we visited in the wet) for community events as well as for informal interaction when people visited the clinic. We expected the clinic to be used on a seasonal basis.
The steel structure was still strong and had no signs of damage but it could do with another coat of paint (unfortunately the cost of the paint is quite expensive). The decking was still in good condition with only one piece slightly damaged.
The community saw great potential to build new structures with steel now that the price of timber had dramatically increased (due to deforestation). Since we undertook this project number of new community and commercial buildings have been constructed with steel at Nong Tong Lim with community members saying that the project helped open their eyes to alternate construction technologies.
We had left some extra steel behind and it was interesting to note that it had been used by the community to construct the frame for another pavilion to shelter the clinic’s exercise equipment.
