OMA/ole scheeren: mahanakhon, bangkok

mahanakhon by ole scheeren / OMA

ole scheeren of OMA has unveiled plans for maha nakhon, a 77 storey skyscraper that will be the tallest building in bangkok. the complex at 150,000 square meters (approximately 1,6 million square feet) is a series of components that comprise mahanakhon square, a landscaped outdoor public plaza intended as a new public destination within the city; maha nakhon terraces, 10,000 square meters (nearly 110,000 square feet) of luxury retail space with lush gardens and terraces spread over multiple levels for restaurants, cafes and a 24 hour marketplace. also included is the ritz-carlton residences, bangkok with 200 highly-customized single-level and duplex homes, each offering the atmosphere of a skybox penthouse and the bangkok edition, a signature boutique hotel with 150 hotel rooms, a collaboration between marriott international and renowned hotelier ian schrager; and a multi-level roof-top sky bar and restaurant.

mahanakhon

with its distinctive sculptural appearance, mahanakhon has been carefully carved to introduce a three dimensional ribbon of architectural ‘pixels’ that circle the tower’s full height, as if excavating portions of the elegant glass curtain wall to reveal the inner life of the building metaphorically and actually an architecture that encloses and protects its inhabitants while revealing the inner life of their city.

mahanakhon – top view

mahanakhon- structure

mahanakhon – detail

mahanakhon – base

the 7-storey area of the tower’s base houses luxury retail and dining areas. here mahanakhon’s architecture is articulated to evoke the shifting protrusions of a mountain landscape. the building also features an adjacent freestanding 7-storey building known as the cube, with multi-level indoor/outdoor terraces offering a network of social spaces with an extensive and carefully selected mix of dining and leisure facilities that serve the general public will have acces to via a direct above ground pedestrian link to the main cbd skytrain station and plaza-level access.

mahanakhon

mahanakhon at night