The MahaNakhon

A giant insect ate part of that building

Back in March, I wrote a piece on a new high rise that was being constructed in Bangkok called the MahaNakhon.  It was to be Bangkok’s tallest tower and have a unique design.  The pictures I enclosed with that entry were all stolen from articles and websites and were generally renderings of what was to come.

At the end of August, the building was finally topped off and parts of it were opened.  There was massive coverage in the Bangkok and international media covering this event. The MahaNakhon is a mixed use project with condos, a couple of hotels, some offices and retail space.  The special feature of the design is the pixelation of the facade.   Perhaps the intent was to make it seem like some giant insect from another planet had eaten away at the building.  Or, more likely, it was to create both a cool exterior effect while allowing for some very unusual and expensive interior spaces to be developed.

A couple of days ago, I had the opportunity to be in the vicinity of this new building and so I thought I would take a look to see for myself what it looked like.  I was able to take pictures of it and not, for a change, steal photos that others had taken.

When I got to the building, I discovered that it was indeed pixelated.  It’s essentially a traditional square plan tower with chunks removed in a spiral pattern.  While I suspect this pixelation created interesting structural engineering challenges as well as some cool interior spaces and views, it still looked to me like a square tower with chunks removed.  The renderings of the building, as is always the case, made it look a lot more interesting than it does in real life, at least in my opinion. While I’m not criticizing the chunk removal, the building does not seem as dramatic or as unique as I had thought it would or could be.  Maybe it is from the inside, as a lot of the action is happening there as well as way up high.  The base of the building seems pretty traditional so you really have to be looking up to see the intended cool effects.

Anyway, for what it’s worth, this is Bangkok’s tallest building for now.  I think it will eventually be a good location for science fiction movies wherein alien insect life forms descend and eat away at bits of the building.  In a city with buildings that look like elephants and with neighbours that are snow cone and pyramid shaped (last slide) the MahaNakhon does not seem out of place or that unusual.

By the way, for comparison sake, the tallest building (not tower) in Toronto is First Canadian Place.  It stands 298 meters high and has 72 stories.  The MahaNakhon stands 314 Meters and has 77 stories.  Perhaps it will get shorter once those alien insects continue eating bits of the building.