Siam Discovery opened last Saturday following a 4 billion baht redevelopment of its interior and exterior spaces by Japanese firm Nendo, which was founded by Oki Sato. The mall, now organised like a department store, boasts 5,000 lifestyle brands including clothing, shoes, furniture and digital devices. Here are some images to get you raring to take the first flight out to explore its beautiful spaces (and new brands)!
The existing building was deep with a narrow frontage that results in a poor flow of visitors at the front. To deal with this problem the many existing circular atriums dotted through the building were extended and joined up to create an elongated canyon-like space of over 58 m that draws visitors into the back of the building.
In addition, a wall consisting of a stack of 220 frame-shaped boxes with video monitors, digital signage and displays of merchandise inside them was installed along one side of the atrium, and this plays the role of a directory for the whole store.
Rather than categorizing merchandise by brand, the experience is organised around the theme of "Lifestyle Laboratory". This aims at encouraging visitors to discover and enjoy a mixture of tastes and lifestyles, and to reflect this we designed motifs at 13 different locations around the sales floors that include laboratory equipment such as beakers, flasks, and test-tubes, and diagrams of molecular structures, nucleotide DNA sequences, microscopes and amoeba, smoke and bubbles to reflect this.
The escalators were repositioned to run through the atrium, facilitating a smoother flow of visitors.
All photos: Takumi Ota, Information from Nendo.
Visit Siam Discovery at 989, Rama I Rd., Pathum Wan, Pathumwan, Bangkok.
