Career
In 1909, Manfredi was selected by the academy to fill an architect position for the government of Siam (now Thailand). Sailing from Genoa, he arrived in Bangkok on 1 December. He was placed under the Architectural Section of the Ministry of Public Works working under engineer-in-chief Carlo Allegri and Minister Prince Naresra Varariddhi. He collaborated with many Italian architects employed by the government including Mario Tamagno, who was the department's chief architect, and others who were involved in the construction of Ananta Samakhom Throne Hall. Many of these architects were in fact also from Turin or alumni of Albertina.
In 1912, Manfredi was promoted to a position in the Ministry of the Royal Household, where he worked closely with King Vajiravudh and Prince Narisara Nuvadtivongs. He was subsequently promoted to Chief Architect and third court officer in 1917 and first court officer in 1921. In 1920, he was appointed the post of naval architect, with the rank of lieutenant-commander in the Royal Naval Scout Corps, which was the king's private battalion in the Wild Tiger Corps para-military movement. He later became Chief Architect of the Archaeological Section of the Royal Institute in 1926. During his service to the government, he was decorated with the Order of the Crown of Siam (commander, 1913), the Dushdi Mala Medal for artistic merit (1915), and the Order of the White Elephant (commander, 1920). He was also awarded the gold medal prize at the Bangkok Fine Arts Exhibition in 1917.
In 1930, during the period of political turmoil leading up to the abolition of absolute monarchy in the Siamese Revolution of 1932, Manfredi retired from government office. For a while, he pursued archaeological studies as an assistant to the French archaeologist George Coedes. He then continued his work as architect privately cooperating with Christiani & Nielsen (Siam) Ltd. from 1934 to 1936 and the Impresitor Company from 1937 to 1938.
In 1939, Manfredi became a lecturer at the Faculty of Architecture of Chulalongkorn University, where he taught for eight years. He also served as a lecturer in the Signalling Division of the Royal Thai Navy from 1944 to 1950 before retiring from public life.
Read more about this topic: Ercole Manfredi
Famous quotes containing the word career:
“They want to play at being mothers. So let them. Expressing tenderness in their own way will not prevent girls from enjoying a successful career in the future; indeed, the ability to nurture is as valuable a skill in the workplace as the ability to lead.”
—Anne Roiphe (20th century)
“In time your relatives will come to accept the idea that a career is as important to you as your family. Of course, in time the polar ice cap will melt.”
—Barbara Dale (b. 1940)
“Whether lawyer, politician or executive, the American who knows what’s good for his career seeks an institutional rather than an individual identity. He becomes the man from NBC or IBM. The institutional imprint furnishes him with pension, meaning, proofs of existence. A man without a company name is a man without a country.”
—Lewis H. Lapham (b. 1935)