Nothing is more telling of a city’s progress than the state of its skyline. Bangkok is currently a frenzy of construction as contractors race to deliver an impressive line-up of new buildings, among them the 615m-high Rama IX Super Tower, set to be the seventh tallest in the world. Notable buildings completed in recent years include the MahaNakhon – or the Pixel Tower as it’s known – by architect Ole Scheeren, and Central Embassy, a curvilinear, three-dimensional coil by Amanda Levete’s London practice AL_A.
Newly moved into the upper 24 floors of the latter is the much anticipated Park Hyatt Bangkok. Set within the former gardens of the British Embassy at the corner of Wireless and Ploen Chit Roads – the city’s heaving commercial artery – Central Embassy is the Central Group’s flagship property, and was already home to six floors of luxury retail.
For Park Hyatt, New York and Toronto-based firm Yabu Pushelberg has embraced the soaring volumes and irregular, free-form architecture of the building to create fluid, intimate and calming interiors that belie the intensity of the city outside. It has also successfully captured a sense of place, with subtle Thai references that eschew time-worn Asian details. ‘Bangkok is the most modern Asian metropolis today,’ explain the duo. ‘So the context of modern luxury is important; upon arrival, you immediately become aware of embracing the future that is rooted in this place.’ Throughout the property, custom-made furnishings and natural stone are delivered in a soft, neutral palette, with modern black accents to provide definition.
If the world’s best street food doesn’t entice, one of the hotel’s three restaurants will – not least the Penthouse Bar & Grill, a soon-to-open destination venue set over the top three floors of the building and designed by New York-based outfit AvroKo. For the full Park Hyatt experience, meanwhile, the Embassy Room serves up a mix of Asian and Western dishes from a state-of-the-art open kitchen. The menu can be sampled al fresco, beside the infinity pool, against a backdrop of the building’s shimmering, sweeping curves.
The designers have embraced the soaring volumes and irregular, free-form architecture of the building
They have also successfully captured a sense of place with subtle Thai references that eschew timeworn Asian details
I were you, by Gao Weigang is on display behind a desk by Khun Tong Sampan, from Art of T, in the ground floor foyer
An intimate corner in the embassy room with a custom-made table and 'Grace' chairs, by Emmanuel Gallina, for Poliform
The result is fluid, intimate and calming interiors that belie the intensity of the city outside
Pagoda Mirage, by Hirotoshi Sawada hangs in the ballroom staircase
The 40m saltwater pool on the ninth floor
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88 Wireless Road
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