New Bangkok Icon - The Central Embassy Bangkok

Amanda Levete, famous for what critics have called 'blog architecture' has designed a unique and eye catching hotel and commercial shopping space in the heart of Bangkok.

The building will be called Central Embassy Bangkok. It will be on the primary commercial artery of the city, Ploen Chit Road, in the former British Embassy Gardens in Nai Lert Park. Work is due to start this year and finish in 2013. It is an extremely ambitious project, and not without risk in these troubled financial times. If and when it is built it will in some ways define Bangkok. For like Bangkok it embraces tradition and modernity and tries to produce a synthesis that is startling and aesthetically pleasing. You look at the pictures below and decide for yourself.

The Central Embassy Bangkok will combine a 7-storey retail podium with a 30-storey 6-star hotel. It will have an incredible 1.5 million square feet of internal space. The key feature of the building is the sinuous and twisting coil that starts at one end of the structure and rises to a peak at the other end. This is the key aspect that has been influenced by Thai architecture, it is a blade runner style Naga or snake found in Thai temple architecture. To re-inforce the traditional Thai aspect of the twisting coil, millions of bespoke ceramic tiles are going to placed on the surface to break up the monotony of the vast space.

Within the coil or naga will be 2 vertical light wells which will connect the retail podium to the hotel complex. The hotel will include courtyards and gardens incorporated into the central naga motif.

It is, in my lay man opinion, an inspired idea. However, the main base of the building from a side ways angle has a blobby nondescript shape that detracts from the elegance of the dynamic twisting coil. As you can see from the pictures below, the same cannot be said for the bird's eye view which reveals a sleek s-shape in the bones of the building.

What is certain is that Bankok inhabitants will love it. They love huge shopping malls and take pride in the modernity of their city; and no doubt, they will easily recognise the naga motif and see the justness of its use.

Windows in Thai Architecture Part One

Although cheap bungalows and many open plan restaurants and bars in Thailand don't use windows very much in their architecture, the window is important to Thai architecture. In old Ayutthaya architecture the 'bot' had narrow vertical openings high up on the walls instead of windows. Later windows with wooden panels were added. Nowadays, doors and windows in Bots are decorated with ornamental frames in stucco which are gilded and enriched with glass mosaic. For secular Thai architecture windows have become an essential consideration. Most fundamentally, windows let in natural light - turning a dark unfriendly space into an open and inviting area. Conversely, large windows let in alot of heat and contribute to solar gain. Obviously this is where curtains come in. Continuing on the theme of energy, windows which can be opened can provide natural ventilation saving the need for 24/7 air-con. At night with the emergence of mosquitos this is less practical. Windows often form part of the natural flow of a Thai house, in the sense that they often serve as doors leading onto a balcony or garden. Sliding glass doors and folding windows are thus very popular in modern Thai architecture. They create the illusion of uninterrupted space between indoors and outdoors. This is a key element of the modern tropical style found throughout Thailand and South East Asia. Another key aspect of windows in Thai architecture is to create interest. A plain wall can be monotonous and uninviting. Windows break up this uniformity. Often windows have interesting shaped frames, coloured glass, shutters and other features to make the building look more desirable. In villa design, especially villas with an elevated view, windows are used to highlight and show off the breathtaking vistas of the beach, mountain, river or sunset. In which case the windows are often floor to ceiling constructions. To sum up, windows are one of the most noticeable and important aspects of Thai architecture. Windows in Thailand date back to the Ayutthaya period and have remained central to Thai architectural aesthetics ever since. Below are a series of photos of various styles of window design. A comment is added below each photograph.

Windows used as a decorative feature of a pagoda style roof. The overhang of the roof reduces solar gain. Here opening glass doors below windows set in a teek wooden frame create a beautiful side entrance to a restaurant and allow for dinners to get a breeze and see the view of the beach.

This house is on an elevation and the series of windows upstairs and downstairs maximise the views and provide a pleasing continuity to the overall feel of the house. Windows with stucco decorations around a domed upper part to the window. Unfortunately, the pink paint job gives the building an overdone, ersatz quality.

This dramatic villa perched on a hill in Koh Samui has a modern feel to it. The plain white walls and right angles are made interesting by the extensive use of oversized windows allowing you to see straight through the house. Furthermore, a small ornamental balcony has been fixed to the side to create a modern tropical sense of intermixing indoor and outdoor spaces.

Here European style window design with shutters has been used.

Windows can be unusual shapes. I presume these windows are intended to provide natural light for a stairwell.

This window uses a diamond shape in the frame to individualise the property.

Here a series of small opaque windows have been place around the top of the main window for a shower room. Thus providing more natural light while maintaining privacy.

An example of a minimalist approach to windows. Solar gain was obviously a key consideration in design. The windows you can see in the photo are road facing, and so privacy is protected.

Finally, here are slightly tinted windows in folding doors that provide access to the decking and pool area.

Pixel Art

This is a good example of how a problem can be viewed as an opportunity for creativity. The Bangkok Transit System 'Sky Trains' have changed people's perceptions of the city. Before nobody paid much attention to the fronts of apartment blocks, but now they've become exposed to commuters on the trains. Eye-level has been raised. The result is that tenants have lost their privacy and Bangkok 'looks' uglier.

Studio ELEVATION and Overdose have come up with a clever solution to the problem - pixel art. The idea is to add a light weight structure to the facade of a row of apartment blocks. The structure is a lattice which contains many small boxes like pixels. The pixels are designed to combine to create patterns. The tenants thus regain their privacy and train users have something interesting to look at. The design also brings together the community because the design of the pixel art only works through co-operation.

The facade 'pixels' are made from wooden crates sourced at the Port of Bangkok. The wood is treated to weather proof it. This is a good example of Green Architecture because it is using low-cost recycled materials.

The project also has an 'organic' and 'democratic' aspect to it because as tenants replace their individual pixels the pattern changes and develops. There is no top-down authority. Every 'pixel' is of equal value.

Some Concepts in Modern Thai Architecture

The word concept is a weighty and pretentious one that often invites obtuse and technical comment that leaves the layman baffled. Architecture can be very philosophical and abstract despite being a discipline that everyone is exposed to and influenced by.

Thus in this blog I don't intend to blind the reader with difficult terms and bore you with discussions of the relationships between architectural forms and society. Instead I will post a few pictures of buildings that I consider to be 'conceptual'. And by this I mean the opposite of 'generic'. The buildings are original in their design. They have an idea behind them; they are not merely re-workings of tried and tested formulas. Rather they display imagination and a desire to interact creatively with the environment.

So much of recent building in Thailand conforms to certain trends. Either it is the minimal look of 'modern tropical' or it is a re-hash of certain characteristics found in traditional Thai architecture. Or it is pure ugly and cheap functionality that is achieved. This is a great pity because there is an enormous wealth of great locations in Thailand, and an undoubted wealth of architectural talent.

So I hope you enjoy the following images, and like me can grasp the idea behind the structure.

(The comments for the photos are posted below the pictures.)

A wrap around balcony on a 'D' shaped house.

A tree house based design.

A playful variation on the multiple roof style found in Thai architecture.

A round house on a cliff edge that vaguely resembles a lighthouse.

A modern and striking restaurant using wooden posts instead of just glass and steel.

This nightclub turned out to be a failed business venture but the building is noteworthy.

This reminds me of the Pompidou Center in Paris.

An elegant interpretation of Chinese ideas of architecture.

Using the Thai idea of roofs at each of the cardinal points to make a star shape.

This is a gym. The simple glass and steel structure provides those working out an excellent view.

I'm not sure if I like this house. The roof is made from cheap materials; but it's certainly original.

This standard designed is made attractive by the upward sweep of the entrance roof.

This house sits perfectly on it's cliff- top perch. The 3 'turrets' maximize the views.

A modern and cool look created by the use of curves.