Bangkok authorities still consider flooding a crisis, instead of a constant. This negative mindset contributes to the economic loss the city has experienced over the last years. With the city sinking 10 cm below sea level, the latter rising by 40 cm annually, the safest place to create architecture is above water.  Architects at S+PBA propose a Post-Diluvian prototype community that translates the principles of traditional, flood-conscious architecture into a contemporary, sustainable Wetropolis.

The project examines the entirely supra-marine stilt home community of Koh Pan Yii, a settlement that floats on the Andaman sea in Southern Thailand, successfully sustaining all of the typical functions of an urban community—schools, public spaces, hospitals, utilities, industry. The proposal will further advance the concept by minimizing its footprint on the water, enabling the continued cultivation of mangrove forests. The forests will supply the community with carbon dioxide mitigating flora, a natural effluent filtration system, some of the only green open space in Bangkok and with moderate local shrimp farming. The prototype community will be elevated above the acres of underutilized shrimp farms, aligning the interests of shrimp farmers, urbanites, developers and the government by simultaneously sustaining mangrove restoration, modest shrimp farming.