We were appointed by one of Thailand’s leading retail developers to design a new kind of outdoor shopping experience, located in the east of Bangkok.
Central Festival Retail Complex
Studio Name: NAME architecture
Design Team: Nathalie Rozencwajg of NAME architecture
Area: 80,000m2 retail, 120,000m2 in total
Year: 2013
Location: Bangkok, Thailand
Consultants: MAAR & SLA Group (both based in Thailand)
Photography Credits:
Other Credits: Michel Da Costa Goncalves (architect)
Taking inspiration from the traditional Thai rooftop, this highly original architectural creates a new destination hub for shopping, dining and recreation. Set over 120,000m², a three-storey looping structure offers a hybrid experience of indoor and outdoor conditions with contrasting atmospheres from gardens to dining, to a luxury fashion arcade.
The project creates a strong coherent, single visual landmark whilst addressing the commercial imperatives of the individual retail units within it.
It connects natural forms and textures through an ambiguous façade system, both structural and sculptural, which acts as cladding, canopy and signage in a single evolving element.
Green canopies and perforations in the façade bring controlled areas of sunlight and shade. Through the fashion arcade, the structure reaches and extends over the space to form a forest canopy-like structure, enclosing and modifying the environment to complement the activity below. As the programme changes, the architecture adjusts its elements to offer varied retail conditions, carefully designed from the customer’s point of view.
Our aim was to harness highly adaptable natural forms and strategies, creating green spaces as a visual paradigm of nature thriving within the fast-changing urban jungle of Thailand’s sophisticated capital.
