Congratulations Chulalongkorn University for destroying South East Asia’s last great movie theater

[RJRS1301]

7 hours ago, Denim said:

Very sad.

 

If you could stand all the women I have taken there on each others heads they would stretch to the moon.

 

Happy days.

In what parallel universe?

 

[RJRS1301]

6 hours ago, KhunLA said:

Apparently nobody cared enough about the place to support it when open.  You can only lose for so long.  

If the mall generates money into Chula, that's always a good thing, as one of the best Uni & hospitals Thailand has to offer.

Better smarter med students and high tech hospital is more important than a dilapidated building nobody visited or seemed to care about.

IMHO

Would it have been suitable as an autopsy ,dissection teaching theatre? Using modern technology, and seating? Retaining the "theatre" aspect and architecture? 

 

 

[Gandtee]

8 hours ago, piewarmer said:

replacing one white elephant with another

By a white elephant. Philistines! A wonderful example to Chula students. 'If you can't make money out of it, get rid of it. It's worth nothing to us or our future generation who may have had a peek at what real architecture was.'????  

[BusyB]

6 hours ago, KhunLA said:

Apparently nobody cared enough about the place to support it when open.  You can only lose for so long.  

If the mall generates money into Chula, that's always a good thing, as one of the best Uni & hospitals Thailand has to offer.

Better smarter med students and high tech hospital is more important than a dilapidated building nobody visited or seemed to care about.

IMHO

Art often needs subsidizing and Chula is staggeringly rich.. It's just another example of people who know the price of everything and the value of nothing.

[new2here]

7 hours ago, KhunLA said:

Apparently nobody cared enough about the place to support it when open.  You can only lose for so long.  

If the mall generates money into Chula, that's always a good thing, as one of the best Uni & hospitals Thailand has to offer.

Better smarter med students and high tech hospital is more important than a dilapidated building nobody visited or seemed to care about.

IMHO

I agree..  I think there’s a balance to be struck here..  i agree that the principle goal or mission of PMCU (Property Management Chulalongkorn University) should be to: 1) manage their real estate portfolio of CU in such a manner that maximizes the present financial returns, and 2) helps to ensure the long term financial stability of the university …. BUT I also think #1 and #2 can and SHOULD be done through the “value lens” of Chulalongkorn not acting purely as a private for-profit enterprise, but principally as a PUBLIC entity charged with operating in the best interest of not only current and future students but also the kingdom as a whole. 

[KhunLA]

3 hours ago, hotchilli said:

Agreed, but a Mall as a replacement, lost opportunity.

Land is expensive, got to go up to maximize value, and maximize rentable floor space.

Edited November 9, 2021 by KhunLA

[PremiumLane]

Just what we need, another shopping mall. 

 

That was a really great old building, and should have been preserved 

[Caldera]

Saddening, I liked to go there. Many memorable visits and they often had excellent special screenings.

 

The idiocy of building yet another shopping mall in a neighborhood that's already packed with shopping malls boggles the mind. Greed pure and simple, you'd think such a prestigious institute of higher education could and should do better. 

[Metapod]

lets be honest, none of you even went there. i bet you mostly watched movies at Central malls like 99% of people

[PETERTHEEATER]

13 hours ago, Denim said:

OK....maybe not the moon.......Baiyoke Tower ..............Yes !!!

And were they viewing the films or...ahem....acting?

[siftasam]

The Philistines! Good God, have they never heard of Bingo?

 

(I lived near Bourne in Lincolnshire. It had a lovely small cinema tucked away in an alley. I went to see 'Rainbow Man' but all the seats had been sold -  so they brought out for me a lovely armchair and sat me in the side aisle. No extra charge of course. Those were the days of kind, generous and gracious living, my friends.)

[Pravda]

13 hours ago, Denim said:

OK....maybe not the moon.......Baiyoke Tower ..............Yes !!!

 

They will stretch to the moon when I take them to a new mall for some free Aircon and food court.

[spidermike007]

13 hours ago, Jeffr2 said:

What? Why bash one of the best educational institutions in the world? Bizarre.

There are alot of white men who are very defensive about the history of their race. They refuse to even discuss it. Not about being woke. More about acknowledging history. 

[spidermike007]

9 hours ago, Liverpool Lou said:

Chula is not building a mall, Chula is a commercial landlord that leases their land to businesses because it is a business.   If another mall was not a good business proposition the leaseholder wouldn't be building it, so much for your assertion that Bangkok doesn't need another mall.  Chula sure did not need a shut down, deteriorating building occupying it's prime land.

No matter how you frame the argument, they are just another morally bankrupt commercial entity that puts money above all else. 

[The Hammer2021]

The vandals and visitors are the BMA and the  popinjay in pink

[The Hammer2021]

9 minutes ago, spidermike007 said:

No matter how you frame the argument, they are just another morally bankrupt commercial entity that puts money above all else. 

Oxford Uni just took 6 million pounds of the mosley family

[kingstonkid]

13 hours ago, PremiumLane said:

Just what we need, another shopping mall. 

 

That was a really great old building, and should have been preserved 

Using the logic you and others have then we should not build any new developments or buildings

 

The problem or thing to remember is that most buildings are renovated replaced because they can serve a better purpose or be more financially viable in a different format.

 

Buildings get old and if they are not being used and making a profit then they are not going to stay.  

Another example is the HARDROCK it was in that area and I am sure that it was making a huge profit.  But it is gone.  Why because the rest of the land and buildings were not making the money that the people leasing the land thought it could.

 

Chula has all the classrooms and buildings that they need.  The idea is to make money so tht they can higher the best professors and give the students the best equipment to work with.

This can not be done with an empty theater.

 

For a comparison look at North America.  How many drive in theaters do you see these days.  Why?  Not because people did not want to go but the amount of time it was used and the value of the land for other businesses created a waste of value.

 

 

 

[Liverpool Lou]

13 hours ago, spidermike007 said:

No matter how you frame the argument, they are just another morally bankrupt commercial entity that puts money above all else. 

Chula University is morally bankrupt for operating it's business?   How, specifically? 

 

Presumably, you're saying that all commercial entities are morally bankrupt, then, yes, or are there some commercial enterprises that you've spotted from your moral high horse that aren't?   Do you patronise any of these "morally bankrupt" businesses?

Edited November 10, 2021 by Liverpool Lou

[KhunLA]

13 hours ago, spidermike007 said:

No matter how you frame the argument, they are just another morally bankrupt commercial entity that puts money above all else. 

Obviously you've never been to the Uni or especially the Medical Center, as they put out a large portion of the medical professionals in Thailand, along with some of the best care to literally 1000's of people EVERYDAY.

 

Any profits enhancing their ability is more important than a dilapidated building showing movies you couldn't pay me to sit through.  Apparently very few of anyone else bothered supporting them.  Good riddance to the eyesore.

[Anant72]

On 11/9/2021 at 8:18 AM, BangkokReady said:

It goes directly against how you think an academic institution should behave.  Very sad for a university to not want to conserve artistically and culturally important buildings.  Should be preserved and turned into a museum or gallery.  Very disappointing.

Chula is a big grocery store with money-minded grocers at the helm. Culture means nothing to them.

[josephbloggs]

You can't beat a bit of good old TVF faux moral outrage at Thais choosing how to develop their land.  The moral outrage of people who never even went there or supported it when it was open is even better!  (If all you Scala lovers bothered to buy tickets and visit it it might still be open).  Modern cinemas are much better which is each and every one of you goes to view your films at one.

It was an ugly late 1960's concrete building - there I've said it.  Like a small version of Euston station - another ugly late 1960s concrete building.  

At least the TVF faux moral outrage at the destruction of Hemingways had some merit as it was a genuinely historic and beautiful building.  But again the landlord was offered $25m dollars for the land - who wouldn't take that?  

[John Drake]

On 11/9/2021 at 10:12 AM, spidermike007 said:

It was in the mid 450's a few years ago. Was curious. Just checked. Like most things Thai, it is going downhill. Now in the mid 500's. #541.

Very little top tier publishing by faculty, here. Most of what they do is published in Thai or regional journals that never get cites. No publishing, no cites = lower ranking.

[John Drake]

On 11/13/2021 at 12:37 PM, josephbloggs said:

You can't beat a bit of good old TVF faux moral outrage at Thais choosing how to develop their land.  The moral outrage of people who never even went there or supported it when it was open is even better!  (If all you Scala lovers bothered to buy tickets and visit it it might still be open).  Modern cinemas are much better which is each and every one of you goes to view your films at one.

It was an ugly late 1960's concrete building - there I've said it.  Like a small version of Euston station - another ugly late 1960s concrete building.  

At least the TVF faux moral outrage at the destruction of Hemingways had some merit as it was a genuinely historic and beautiful building.  But again the landlord was offered $25m dollars for the land - who wouldn't take that?  

Actually, you're right. The building and its design were nothing special. You could see hundreds if not thousands of these type cinemas puked out on parking lots in the US back in the late 60s and early 70s. Most were tore down years ago. The exterior design by the way was not Art Deco; it was late modernist box concrete and glass. The interior design tried to mimic Art Deco but came off looking like bad Christmas decorations. The movie palaces worth preserving were those in the US built in the 20s and 30s. Compare them with Scala and the truth really hurts.

[spidermike007]

11 hours ago, John Drake said:

Very little top tier publishing by faculty, here. Most of what they do is published in Thai or regional journals that never get cites. No publishing, no cites = lower ranking.

Is it possible they simply do not have too much to say of relevance? Are they making important scientific discoveries? Ground breaking research? 

[John Drake]

8 hours ago, spidermike007 said:

Is it possible they simply do not have too much to say of relevance? Are they making important scientific discoveries? Ground breaking research? 

Of the ones who asked that I proof or read through their chapters and articles, I'd say they are cutting and pasting from Wiki. Not exaggerating. This is the absolute truth. I started trying to put some nonsense phrases I was seeing and googled them. Single sentences that come from two or three different Wiki entries.