Klein Dytham Architecture

Open House At Central Embassy

Open House At Central Embassy
© Ketsiree Wongwan

OPEN HOUSE AT CENTRAL EMBASSY

Klein Dytham architecture

MANUFACTURERS
COTTO, Soraa, Curio, ENDO Lighting Corporation

PHOTOGRAPHS
Ketsiree Wongwan, Spaceshift Studio

YEAR
2017

AREA
4600 m²

LOCATION
Bangkok, Thailand

CATEGORY
Restaurant, Shopping Centers

Open House is located in the Central Embassy complex 50m above Bangkok. It features a village of spaces each with a familiar human scale - restaurants, bars, galleries, stores, pop-ups, libraries and workspaces that all seamlessly work together.

Open House At Central Embassy
© Ketsiree Wongwan
Open House At Central Embassy
© Ketsiree Wongwan

In today’s mega cities there is nowhere to pause, take a breath, sit or simply get back in control of your senses, especially in the stifling heat of Bangkok. Open House is the antidote to this - it is an oasis, a getaway - a place where you can feel at home.

The brief revolved around fourteen restaurants and bars, a bookstore, a co-working space, a kids space and various communal areas.

Open House At Central Embassy
© Spaceshift Studio
Open House At Central Embassy
© Spaceshift Studio

With this many components and functions it soon became clear that navigation was the key to the project. How could we break down this aircraft-hanger-like space into an understandable and seamlessly connected village?

Open House At Central Embassy
© Spaceshift Studio

By developing a series of towers for each of the restaurants we could: Make the restaurants visible from a distance by making the towers act like totems

Open House At Central Embassy
© Ketsiree Wongwan
Open House At Central Embassy
© Ketsiree Wongwan

Hide the kitchen hoods and ventilation ducts
Enclose many of the columns and reduce their visual impact

The towers are clad in a family of different timber fretwork patterns; the variety in these patterns serves to change the way light passes through the towers as you move through the space.

Open House At Central Embassy
© Ketsiree Wongwan
Open House At Central Embassy
© Ketsiree Wongwan

Mirrored panels on the ceiling around the towers make them appear to extend beyond the space and also break down the immensity of the ceiling.

The bookstore element is linear and a path with reading stops along the way weaves its way through the space. A tall book tower anchors the bookshop at one end of the space, and a large double height library wall wraps around at the other end.

Open House At Central Embassy
© Ketsiree Wongwan
Open House At Central Embassy
© Ketsiree Wongwan
Open House At Central Embassy
© Ketsiree Wongwan

The bookstore seamlessly integrates into the bar and restaurant spaces and allows people to browse freely.An Art Tower sits under the main roof light, which contains a small gallery and a look-out surrounded by trees on top. The internal gallery forms an intimate space within the Open house for art exhibitions.

Externally the tower has illuminated shelves for displays and large plain surfaces for future art exhibitions and installations.

Open House also includes ‘the greenhouse’ a co-working space which is located behind the book wall and provides a quieter, more secluded space for working and a suite of meeting rooms.

Open House At Central Embassy
© Ketsiree Wongwan
Open House At Central Embassy
© Ketsiree Wongwan
Open House At Central Embassy
© Ketsiree Wongwan

Food and drinks from any one of the restaurants can be ordered and delivered to your desk.The Central Embassy complex is in a surprisingly leafy area of Bangkok, overlooking the British Embassy complex on one side and more green tree tops on the other.

We wanted to extend this notion of greenery inside and to achieve this and reduce the impact of the extensive white ceiling, we devised a pattern of leaves that spreads cross the whole space.

The 9,600 leaves were hand painted over a series of 6 weeks and collectively create an amazing art work, an iconic and memorable element of the space.

Open House At Central Embassy
© Spaceshift Studio


Open House At Central Embassy
© Ketsiree Wongwan
Open House At Central Embassy
© Ketsiree Wongwan


Open House At Central Embassy
Floor Plan

Klein Dytham Architecture
T +81 3 57952277
Klein Dytham Architecture
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