That turns the innards outwards
Back in October, I read an article in an architecture blog that I follow about a new incubator project in Bangkok called Hubba-to. As you might know, incubator projects are built to allow start-ups to get access to facilities and services that can help them move their businesses forward. We have a number of these in Toronto such as MaRS, the Ryerson DMZ, INcubes, the U of T Creative Destruction and many others. Bangkok has many of these incubators as well and Hubba-to is the newest. (There are also two other Hubba co-working spaces in Bangkok.) The interesting thing about this one is its design. The ArchDaily article last October highlighted its interesting design features and then in February, it was voted the best interior design project of the year. That seemed pretty interesting, so I decided to visit it the other day so that I could see it for myself.
The project is located in a new lifestyle mall called Habito, which I’ll talk about in later entries. This mall, surrounded by many new condo towers, is squarely aimed at young people and the incubator/co-working space fits right into the ambience of the place. The Hubba-to incubator is located on the second and third floors of the mall and it’s very nicely designed. The architect, Supermachine Studio, highlighted the mechanical and electrical aspects of the entire space and used electrical conduits as the main design driver. (By the way, Bangkok based architecture firms have the coolest names. Supermachine Studio is pretty nice. Then there SODA, A49, The Office of Bangkok Architects, OpenBox and many more.) The designers decided to make a big deal of the bits that generally hide behind walls and I think they did a pretty nice job.
The mall was about a 30 minute walk from the hospital, so it was easy to get to. I will talk about the walk in a later entry but once I arrived at Hubba-to, I was greeted by a young lady named Nok – slide 2 above – who gave me a tour of the entire two-level facility. In typical Thai friendly fashion, she took me all over the place, explaining every room and feature. The biggest difference between this Thai incubator and the ones we have in Toronto is the diversity of businesses and working issues that it’s trying to support. Generally, our incubators or co-working spaces concentrate of technology, mostly related, I suspect, to App development. Hubba-to had lots of space for this sort of activity, but it also had a considerable amount of space and equipment for start-ups dealing with fashion, ceramics and photography. Each of these areas is supported by the types of equipment that a young company might not be able to afford, such as sewing machines, ovens and other devices which are expensive, but necessary if one were to, for example, want to start up a clothing business, or some sort of ceramics business. There was also lots of space for video production work, including a studio, so people into movie making could be accommodated. It was all nicely put together. As in most incubator sites, this one also has classes, mentors, advisors and other supports to help young entrepreneurs get started.
Given that Hubba-to is in Bangkok, by definition, there must be food attached. The Habito mall has lots of cheap restaurants and coffee shops, all with free WiFi and all with pretty nice lounging space. There is also a very inexpensive coffee shop in the actual Hubba-to area as well as a kitchen just in case an occupant wants to do their own cooking.
I took some pictures, which are not as good as the ones in the ArchDaily Blog website. However, perhaps they get the point across. The architects did a really nice job of creating a very interesting space for young people looking to start a business and get some help along the way. The space is cool. The concept of using innards in an outward way is impressive and all in all, this space is a very nice interior design effort.
As we’ve often remarked- buildings tend to look better before all the interesting structural details are covered up in some ugly skin… evidence the ROM. Interiors are often more interesting this way. And how do you find people to do tours for you? Couldn’t see that happening at MaRS
All true. The lady was at the entrance when I walked in and asked if I needed help. I said I was an architect from Canada who had read about the space and she instantly went into tour guide mode. This level of interest and service definitely would not happen at MaRS.