ASWA search for the balance between the project’s objectives and limitations into the creation of the innovative looking geometry for Bitwise Headquarters, in Samutprakarn, Thailand.
Architects: ASWA (Architectural Studio of Work – Aholic)
Location: Samut Prakan, Thailand
Category: Office Buildings
Lead Architects: Phuttipan Aswakool, Chotiros Techamongklapiwat
Area: 3,000 m2
Project Year: 2018
Photographs: Phuttipan Aswakool
Bitwise is a manufacturer of air conditioners whose long track record and experience in the industry in Thailand. Their Headquarters design was realized from the conceptual organization’s image and identity. The concept of rethinking “Innovation” applied to the form of the building. All the context, criteria, and functions needed to fit within the limitation of the buildable area due to regulation, 26×28 m2 space which can be separated into two sections. The first section –the first and second floor- was scooped out a one-quarter of the space for the main approach, drop-off, and entrance area. The remaining space of the first floor is a reception area and meeting rooms then, it has been turned in to an exhibition space, meeting room, and a large conference area on the second floor. The second section – the third and fourth floors – serves as the company’s office space, which takes a whole limitation area of 26×28 m2 and physically bigger than the public space in the first section of the building. The fourth floor also has a limitation of the setback regulation to form the shape of the building.
For an architectural structure, the conventional column structure was eliminated to create a form that could correspond not only to the required functionality but also the company’s approach toward image branding for Bitwise Headquarters. For the space of almost a 1,500 m2 capacity on the third and fourth floor to be able to cantilever 14 meters from the main structure and overhang above the drop-off area by using steel truss. The truss structure also appears within the interior space of the third floor and these triangulated geometric patterns from the structure were selected for the facade cladding pattern of the building’s exterior shell. The double-layered exterior shell for the south and west facade is the solution for such requirements with aluminum louvers whose forms are similar to those of ventilation fins of an air conditioner. The louvers welcome in the presence of natural light and outside surroundings.
Bitwise Headquarters is an innovative experiment where architecture, engineering, and construction become parts of the conceptualization and development process in which a building’s physicality and functionality are conceived, not only to represent but also innately from the owner’s true identity.
ASWA
ASWA (Architectural Studio of Work – Aholic) is a Bangkok-based studio, founded in 2013 by Phuttipan Aswakool + Chotiros Techamongklapiwat, who carries out its design journey through experimentation with materials, architectural forms, and characteristics of interior spaces that correspond in equilibrium with the use of natural light.
For ASWA, a design is conceived from a thorough analysis of each project’s surrounding context before translated into its own architectural language.
PHUTTIPAN ASWAKOOL
1982 Born in Bangkok, Thailand
2005 Graduated from Chulalongkorn University
2008 Graduated from Columbia University, NY, USA
2013 Established Architectural Studio of Work – Aholic (ASWA)
CHOTIROS TECHAMONGKLAPIWAT
1986 Born in Bangkok, Thailand
2009 Graduated from Chulalongkorn University
2013 Established Architectural Studio of Work – Aholic (ASWA)
