Background

The Ban Ten Rum, or Dancing House, is located in Nang Lerng, in the old part of Bangkok. Built approximately 80 years ago, it was turned into a dancing school from the 1950’s to 1979 when it closed down and the house fell into disrepair.

In 2012, Openspace partnered with Kratingdaeng Spirit, the CSR program of Kratingdaeng, formely known as Red Bull Thailand, E-Lerng, a community-based art collective from Nang Lerng, and Khun Tarinee Tamornsuwan, the current house owner, to renovate the Dancing House using community participation. As of now, four phases of this project have been completed, over the span of four years. The project is not finished and more renovations will be undertaken in the future.

Phase Four: 2015

In the latest phase of the renovation of the Dancing House, we worked on the space surrounding the house, and the protecting fence. This, once again, allowed us to maximise the space: in the previous phase, we ensure that one of the wall panels opens completely. We then created a sitting area outside, so that guests do not take up the limited first floor space during events. Renovating the outside area gave the entire project a finished look.

In the future, we aim to finish the second floor of the Dancing House. There is currently no timeline for this project.