Why cabin?

Why in the sky?

Why the library?

Baby boomers and generation X may be familiar with “Tha Chalom” very well from the legendary song “Tha Chalom and Mahachai, no need to think it’s far, better connect love”, love across the sea is clearly seen in the imagination after listening this part of the song.

Tha Chalom is an old trading community of the Chinese, a venue for leading fishery company and the first provincial sanitary district of the country. There is a road that the community jointly offered its private land for route construction and King Rama V proceeded for the opening in 1905.

With love and strong bond to the place, a small group of people born and raised in Tha Chalom therefore is unanimous in opinion on recollecting the good old days. The signature of Tambon Chalom as well as “Tha Chalom Skycabin Library” is the new landmark connecting people in the area and between different generations. 

Tha Chalom, the City of Fishery

Around 4-5 years ago, Dr. Suwanchai Sangsukiam, Chairman of Samut Sakhon City Development (Social Enterprise) gathered a group of descendants who loves Samut Sakhon for developing tourist attractions, searching for historic information as well as contemporary stories to create tourist-spot database and encourage the community as the host take part in keeping the area clean and beautiful.

“In the past, Tha Chalom was very well known for its fishery. Many of the big fishery companies have their starting points here. There was Ban Tha Chin, where Chinese junks stopped by, so a lot of Chinese people, both Teochew and Hainanese settled down here and the trade was bustling. However, time flies, railway transportation has become more popular, development has moved to Mahachai, fishery business is not as good as before, new generation therefore moves to work outside the area and only do the elderly and children live here. Gathering and encouraging the community participate in activity of tourism will give a positive result in preserving the value of the past and developing the city in long term.”

In 2019, Arsomsilp Community and Environmental Architect Co., Ltd was granted fund from Thai Health Promotion Foundation in designing “Community Cultural Sports Field.”

After having been brainstorming for months, they came up with the idea of “Tha Chalom Skycabin Library.” The design is quirky by modifying “old water tower” (located in the current Tha Chalom Public Health Service Center) into lighthouse and decorated it into the shape of “cabin” which is identity of the community, implying that the place used to be the city of fishery and commerce; otherwise, if the valuable antique like old water tower had had no use it might have been pulled down to recreate new things as the way of urban development.

Skycabin Library

Let’s see what is inside the cabin.

Passing spiral staircase to the second floor from the ground floor, you will find the compact library where people in the community can come to use their free time effectively. After reaching the next floor, you will find a rest area for enjoying a cool breeze and a balcony overlooking Tha Chalom city view in the outer area. On the other side is a window without glass to look down “Lan Tai Gong Noi” (playground) without anything blocking your sight.

“Lan Tai Gong Noi” is the playground with its being a common space for different generations to share, designed in accordance with the main idea. The fishnets and the masts harmoniously coexist with tress that architects did not pull them down with beautifully cyan rubber floor tile.

Tha Chalom’s new landmark eventually received Silver Medal of ASA (The Association of Siamese Architects Under Royal Patronage) in 2022 as a result of joining hands between architects and the community and it is ready for welcoming tourists after post-covid. Anyone loving local-way-of-life travel, let’s stroll at Tha Chalom.   

Location: Somanasmankha Rd. Tambon Tha Chalom Meung Samut Sakhon 74000

Admission Fee : Free Entry