This new mixed-use project in Bangkok bears the name “Naiipa Art Complex”. The Thai word “naiipa”, meaning “deep in the woods”, is the programme for the scheme. It refers to a 30-40-year-old stock of trees that were to be preserved. Here, in a green oasis in the city centre, the client wished to develop flexibly rentable spaces for a creative working community. The 2,000 m² spatial programme comprises a sound studio, an art gallery, fitness and dance studios, a restaurant, a cafe and offices distributed over two cubic volumes in order not to impair the central planted area. Meandering between the trunks and branches of the trees is a lightweight system of steel ramps that link the two blocks.

Housed in the lower structure along the road are the larger spaces accommodating the restaurant and studios. The narrow, tower-like block, on the other hand, contains a coffee shop and the offices, which are oriented to the verdant open space. Raised on the steel bridges among the foliage are the Bird’s Nest Gallery and the cafe terraces. Also belonging to the complex is an older structure that has been refurbished and now contains seminar spaces, and there are many co-working areas that can be rented on a daily basis.