Patrawan Vitookijwatana. Good points and weak points of renovating old public buildings for new function : case study, old mint building renovation into the National Gallery in 1977 . Master's Degree(Cultural Studies). Mahidol University. : Mahidol University, 2003.
Good points and weak points of renovating old public buildings for new function : case study, old mint building renovation into the National Gallery in 1977
Abstract:
This thesis involved qualitative research, studying the strengths and weaknesses
of renovating old government buildings into art museums.The National Gallery
located on Chaofa Road was the case study. The function of the 101 years old
government mint building was completely changed in being renovated into The
National Gallery 26 years ago.
It was found that the strong points of the National Gallery project were the
outstanding architectural style and historical value. However, today we tend to
emphasize simplicity in our art museums, so the majestic style is no longer so
diserable. Nevertheless, it had a good location, the center of the town, convenient for
transportation. The weak point of renovating the old government mint building to be
an art museum is the high expense of maintenance, because the building was not
originally designed to be an art gallery. Furthermore, there are differences between a
building especially designed to be an art museum and the old government mint
building, such as the function of it internal structure, its electrical design, and the
temperature and humidity control system.
The suggestion for this research is that the National Gallery (before 1977, the old
government mint building) must undergo further modification as regards the electricity
and humidity control system in order to be more suitable as an exhibition hall. The
principles of museum and art museum management should be used as a guide.