Visual Quality Improvement of the Old Nonthaburi City Hall

Abstract

The Old Nonthaburi City Hall was registered as a historic site by the Fine Arts Department of Thailand in 1981. The rapid expansion of urban area has posed a significant effect on the visual quality of the site, specifically reducing its landscape beauty. This research aimed to propose plausible approaches for improving the visual quality of the site. Based on the analysis and assessment of the present visual quality of the site, five key viewpoints were declared. Three approaches for improving the visual quality of the site—1) orderly landscape, 2) formal landscape, and 3) park-like landscape—were proposed. The photomontages were created for using as the representative pictures in the questionnaire in order that the respondents can rate the visual quality of each viewpoint after the improvement by using each of the proposed approach. The respondents included forty non-local people, forty local people, and forty experts in the field of landscape design. The results showed that park-like landscape was the approach most of the respondents preferred, followed by formal landscape and then orderly landscape. Remarkably, the ratings given by experts in the field of landscape design were significantly lower than those of the other two groups of respondents.