Project description by Büro Ole Scheeren
MahaNakhon is a new 77-storey high-rise complex located in Bangkok’s Central Business District, with a direct link to the Chongnonsi BTS Skytrain station. The development of more than 150,000 square meters is comprised of a landscaped public plaza; a multi-level retail centre with restaurants, cafes, and 24-hour marketplace; 200 serviced apartments operated by the Ritz-Carlton; the Bangkok Edition, a 150 room boutique hotel in collaboration with Marriot International and Ian Schrager; and a rooftop Sky Bar and restaurant. MahaNakhon is the most ambitious complex of contemporary architecture and urbanism in Thailand and the tallest building in Bangkok.
The design of MahaNakhon dismantles the typical tower and podium typology, creating a skyscraper that melds with the city by gradually ‘dissolving’ as it flows downward to meet the ground. A series of cascading indoor/outdoor terraces at the base of the tower accommodates retail and entertainment facilities, evoking the shifting protrusions of a mountain landscape. An adjacent freestanding seven-storey building – the “Cube” with corresponding terraces creates an expansive outdoor atrium – forming a valley and network of social, dining, and leisure spaces that serve the residences and the public. MahaNakhon Square, at the front of the tower, is designed as a dynamic public plaza, a spot for planned and spontaneous cultural events, a landscaped retreat for the city’s inhabitants, and a rare venue for cultural and social interaction.
Mahanakhon Tower has been carefully carved to introduce a three-dimensional ribbon of architectural pixels that coil up the tower’s full height to reveal the inner life of the building. This generates a set of specific features – projecting glass skyboxes with sweeping views and generous indoor/outdoor spaces – uncommon to high-rise living, but well-suited to the tropical climate of Bangkok. The pixels have been designed to maximize unobstructed panoramas and offers rare birds-eye views of the city and Chaophraya River. Residences located in the non-pixelated area of the tower enjoy a parallel innovation: double-height living spaces equipped with multiple bays of full-height bi-fold balcony windows – sections of facade that fold inwards and upwards – transforming living areas into indoor/outdoor environments. The top of the tower houses a three-floor Sky Bar and restaurant with double-height spaces and an outdoor rooftop bar with 360° views, floating 310 meters above the city.
Commissioned in 2008 by Pace Development, MahaNakhon is the vision of Ole Scheeren, at that time Partner in Charge at OMA, and has been developed over the last decade by Büro Ole Scheeren and its team of architects at Büro Ole Scheeren Thailand and subsidiary HLS.
The building has received widespread acclaim globally and has been named Finalist in the prestigious 2018 International High-Rise Award. Other awards include Best Mixed Use Development Thailand at the 2015/16 Asia-Pacific Property Awards, Best Condo Development at the 2014 South East Asia Property Awards and Best Luxury Condo Development at the 2014 Thailand Property Awards.
Ole Scheeren is a German architect and principal of Buro Ole Scheeren with offices in Hong Kong, Beijing, Berlin, and Bangkok. He is chief designer and leading the company’s creative vision and strategic development.
Ole Scheeren’s current work includes the Guardian Art Center, a new exhibition space and headquarters for China’s oldest art auction house currently under construction near the Forbidden City in Beijing; 1500 West Georgia, a residential high-rise in downtown Vancouver; DUO, a large-scale mixed-use urban development under construction in Singapore; MahaNakhon, at 314 meters Bangkok’s tallest tower housing the Ritz-Carlton Residences; Angkasa Raya, a 268 meter tall landmark building in the center of Kuala Lumpur; and a large-scale mixed-use urban development in Shenzhen, China.
Prior to launching Buro Ole Scheeren in 2010, Ole was Director and Partner along with Rem Koolhaas at OMA and responsible for the office’s work across Asia. As partner-in-charge of one of the largest buildings in the world, he successfully led the design and realization of the CCTV and TVCC Towers in Beijing. Other projects include The Interlace, a residential complex in Singapore (completed) and the Taipei Performing Arts Center in Taiwan (under construction). He also directed OMA’s work for Prada and completed the Prada Epicenters in New York and Los Angeles.
Through Studio Ole Scheeren, he is exploring his more personal interest in non-architectural projects and interventions, such as Archipelago Cinema, a floating auditorium in the Andaman Sea for the “Film on the Rocks” Festival in Yao Noi, Thailand, and subsequently installed at the 13th Architecture Biennale in Venice. He also developed Mirage City Cinema, a cinema-architecture space commissioned by the Sharjah Art Foundation as part of the Sharjah Biennial 11 Film Programme.
Ole Scheeren has contributed to various arts and culture projects and exhibitions throughout his career, including triennials in Beijing and Milan, China Design Now in London, the exhibition Cities on the Move at London’s Hayward Gallery and in the city of Bangkok, Media City Seoul and the Rotterdam Film Festival. For the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) he designed two exhibitions in New York and Beijing featuring the CCTV project.
He regularly lectures at various international institutions and conferences, serves on juries for awards and competitions, and has been awarded numerous prizes, including the WAF 2015 World Building of the Year for The Interlace, the CTBUH 2013 Best Tall Building award for CCTV and the 2014 inaugural Urban Habitat Award for The Interlace.
Educated at the universities of Karlsruhe and Lausanne, Ole Scheeren graduated from the Architectural Association in London and was awarded the RIBA Silver Medal.
