Blueprint Awards 2017: The winners
Best Interior Project - Work
Winner: Department of Architecture, Co., Thailand
Thailand Creative and Design Center, Bangkok, Thailand
Judges’ Comments
‘I love this project. Industrial, yet ethereal, beautifully detailed and full of surprises and contrasts. A total winner!’ Tina Norden
‘It’s intriguing and highly innovative with a stunning use of frames.’ Andre´ Fu
The Thailand Creative and Design Center (TCDC) is a creative incubator operated by a government agency, which now occupies a refurbished wing of Bangkok’s Grand Postal Building. The new spaces are designed to complement the architecture of the 1930s building, while providing a contemporary environment that helps to promote creative activities.
Rather than disrupting or concealing the building’s structure, the architects chose to work within the existing envelope. The project team introduced freestanding walls and furniture to de ne new spaces, including a design library,a material library, a makerspace, a seminar room and offices. The new interventions predominantly utilise lightweight metal frameworks or translucent materials that contrast with thesolid mass of the building’s historical shell.
Throughout the various rooms, communal tables encourage interaction and conversation, creating a similar feel to a co-working space or a cafe. In the library, bookshelves are incorporated into a geometric metal-grid structure that extends up to the ceiling. Where required, translucent panels form partitions that allow light to pass through and produce a blurred effect so the spaces feel separate yet still connected. The same effect is applied alongside the circulation areas to create a connection with the activities happening within the adjacent rooms.
Highly Commended
Neri&Hu Design and Research Office, China
The Garage, Beijing B+ Automobile Center, Beijing, China
Commended
Assembly Design Studio, USA
Uber Advanced Technologies Group Center, Pittsburgh, USA
Linehouse, China
WeWork, Weihai Road, Shanghai, China
Finalists
Arquitecturia Camps Felip, Spain
FPdGi Headquarters, Girona, Spain
Assembly Design Studio, USA
Uber Advanced Technologies Group Center, Pittsburgh, USA
BDG architecture + design, UK
Hamburg Campus, WPP Group, Hamburg, Germany
Ben Adams Architects, UK
Albert House, London, UK
Bohlin Cywinski Jackson, USA
Square, Inc., San Francisco, USA
Buckley Gray Yeoman, UK
The Bloomsbury Building, London, UK
Department of Architecture, Co., Thailand
Thailand Creative and Design Center, Bangkok, Thailand
Grimshaw, UK
Yoox Net-A-Porter Group Tech Hub, London, UK
HASSELL, Australia
Sky Central Workplace design, London, UK
Helin & Co Architects, Finland
TietoKeilalahti Campus, Espoo, Finland
Kris Lin Interior Design, China
Skynet, Shanghai, China
Linehouse, China
WeWork Weihai Road, Shanghai, China
Morey Smith, UK
8 Hanover Square, London, UK
Neri&Hu Design and Research Office, China
The Garage, Beijing B+ Automobile Center, Beijing, China
Project Orange, UK
1 Zhukov, Moscow, Russia
Category sponsored by: Milliken
