Bangkok looks a lot different than it did 20 years ago.
From the city centre to the suburbs, cranes and construction crews speckle the skyline. Catering to a population that has ballooned from 6.3 million to nearly 10 million in a decade, property developers continue to transform the landscape with condominiums, shopping centres and mixed-use buildings.
Bangkok remains a top global destination, with a quality of life that draws a large expat population as well as 20 million tourists each year. But great urban growth begets great problems.
In February 2018, fine particulate matter – hazardous air particles, known as PM2.5, so tiny they can enter the lungs – reached record high levels, making Bangkok briefly one of the five most polluted cities on Earth.
While traffic congestion, community displacement, and noise and air pollution threaten to irrevocably damage Bangkok’s ecosystem and infrastructure, one Thai property group has set out to reshape the way the city develops before the opportunity passes.
Humankind has entered uncharted territory. Societies have never had so many older people. Greenhouse gas levels are beyond human experience. Cities are larger than ever before. We want to support the [kind of] thinking that can help solve these issues.
Tanta-Nanta spoke at the first annual International Well-being and Sustainability Forum, put on by the property developer at Bangkok’s Royal Paragon Hall in January 2018.
The event gathered five global experts in sustainable development, who addressed pressing issues such as aging populations, unplanned urbanization, climate change and quality of life.
Through ideas and approaches that integrate well-being and sustainability, the experts wondered what sustainability means as we stand at the threshold of a new age, and who is represented by – or left out of – discussions surrounding sustainability
Now, the leaders of MQDC are tackling the biggest issues discussed at the forum.
MQDC has championed sustainability on a number of levels, most notably by founding its own Research & Innovation for Sustainability Center (RISC). The collaborative, knowledge-sharing effort brings together researchers in science, engineering, design and art to come up with environmentally and socially sustainable solutions for healthier ecosystems.
Ultimately, the RISC hopes to foster fresh ideas that reduce human impact on the natural environment.
At the end of 2017, RISC announced it would be collaborating with MIT’s Energy Initiative (MITEI) to slash greenhouse gas emissions while enhancing the sustainability of homes and property development projects in Thailand.
MQDC has constructed a new 990-square-metre headquarters for RISC. The research centre has the first office in Thailand built to comply with the WELL Building Standard (WELL), the world’s first building standard focused exclusively on human health and wellness.
The centre hosts full-time research scientists, providing funding for their projects as well as an appropriately well-equipped working environment. The new centre houses the largest public green-material library in ASEAN, containing over 300 environment-friendly items, and features wellness-driven touches such as sound-masking that blocks out noise pollution and lighting that minimises disruption to circadian rhythms.
“RISC is the base for implementing the MQDC principle of ‘sustainnovation’,” explains MQDC CEO Visit Malaisirirat, referencing the company’s core operating philosophy. “[Sustainnovation] involves researching human and environmental needs and then finding innovative ways to meet them.”
This research has already been put into practice. Energy-saving roof, floor, wall and glazing materials earned MQDC’s Magnolias I (Southern California) recognition at the Energy Saving House Awards 2007. Then, in 2016, MQDC earned Best Green Development accolades at the Thailand Property Awards for its Whizdom Avenue Ratchada - Ladprao development.
Recently, MQDC also scored a first for Thailand at the AEC Excellence Awards, placing third globally in Sustainability for its WHIZDOM 101 project. The “smart city” development on Sukhumvit Road combines condominiums, shops, restaurants, leisure facilities, digital office space and green space.
The project utilised high-tech tools that reduced construction cost and waste by 10 percent, while cutting energy use by 30 percent and water usage by 40 percent across the development.
To come up with creative energy-saving concepts, MQDC partnered with EEC Engineering Network. Features devised by the groups include a pathway with Pavegen technology. The power this generates from footsteps during the day helps light walkways at night.
MQDC and EEC have since formed a joint venture, EEC DT. They have worked together on other landmark projects such as Magnolias Ratchadamri Boulevard, whose striking design includes extensive shading and other ‘passive design’ features to achieve LEED certification for environmental and energy conservation.
EEC DT is now contributing to MQDC’s most ambitious project – The Forestias.
With The Forestias, MQDC has integrated human and natural ecosystems like never before to create a
radically new style of community.
“MQDC targets well-being and sustainability in all developments,” says Malaisirirat, “but The Forestias will be a unique approach to provide new standards in human and environmental welfare.”
Spanning 48 hectares in Bang Na district, The Forestias has been designed under a concept of ‘sustainable happiness’. The mixed-use project incorporates residential housing, retail buildings, office buildings, a health centre, an innovation centre, community space, a learning centre and a one-of-a-kind nature reserve where humans cannot enter.
Planned as more than a living space, The Forestias also addresses lesser-considered elements of sustainable urban development, from social interaction to education to physical health.
The community spaces are designed to nurture interactions not just between residents, but also between young and old, across four generations.
To better attend to the issues discussed at the forum, MQDC has brought on a number of partners to ensure the project adheres to a holistic approach to sustainable design.
Canada’s Baycrest eldercare centre is helping to create sustainable environments that can enhance health and well-being – the core of MQDC’s sustainnovation platform.
The Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health is collecting data on the impact of the project’s landscape and design on human health.
And renowned engineering consultancy Atelier Ten is monitoring the construction and design so that The Forestias, when completed, can serve as a model for future projects across the world.
As more property developers address sustainability in their projects, consumer behaviour in Thailand should start to shift and the city will resolve some of the most pressing issues it faces.
As MQDC has shown, smart, sustainable cities do not have to start from a blank slate.