Hot House, Mixed Grounds: A regenerative compound for climate, cultivation, and rural continuity in Southern Thailand
Name
Ratanarat-ratsam-arch-march-2026-thesis.pdf
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55.58 MB
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74f9f9aa58dbe3ca857259d6234c7afa
Author(s)
Ratanarat, Samantha
Advisor(s)
Kennedy, Sheila
Date Issued
February 2026
Publisher
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Abstract
Rubber and palm oil cultivation have shaped the agricultural economy of Southern Thailand for decades. These monocultural systems are integral to rural livelihoods, but their expansion since the 20th century has reduced ecological diversity and increased chemical inputs. The landscape is also shaped by a climate in which heat and humidity define conditions for shelter, a context that contemporary construction often meets with energy intensive materials and mechanical cooling. This thesis asks whether a different way of living and building can emerge within this landscape, shaped instead by regenerative forces and natural cycles. A four-acre palm plantation in Surat Thani province becomes the ground for exploring the development of a regenerative rural compound. The existing order of the palm grid shapes the spatial organization of the site, where habitation, material experimentation, and expanded mixed planting establish a new program. Within this site, the thesis proposes a building system with rubberwood, a by-product of the regional plantation cycle that is typically processed in nearby sawmills and exported for furniture production. Reconsidered here as a structural resource that remains within the landscape that produces it, the material’s locally milled dimensions guide the development of components suited to non-industrial construction and passive approaches to cooling in a hot, humid climate. Together, the integration of these spatial and material strategies explore how shelter and productive land use might operate within the working landscape while allowing the ground to move gradually toward ecological repair. By drawing on one branch of the plantation economy to reorganize another, the proposal sets out a localized, closed-loop approach to land and material management.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Architecture
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