LEDGE WITH A VIEW
28 Nov 2018
Now open to the public, the new sky-high observation deck on top of Thailand’s tallest building offers visitors 360-degree views of the city - including views straight down through the glass floor.
The opening of the observation deck marks the completion of Ole Scheeren’s skyscraper in Bangkok. Designed as Thailand‘s tallest building and a new architectural landmark for the city, MahaNakhon has transformed Bangkok’s skyline. At 314 meters high, the observation deck offers spectacular 360-degree views of the bustling urban landscape and Chao Phraya river below. 
“The idea behind MahaNakhon was to take the life of the city and bring it up the tower in a dramatic, spiralling movement,” comments Ole Scheeren, principal of Büro Ole Scheeren. “Even the very top of the tower is surrendered to the public. It is a project that is strongly embedded in the city and the public realm.” 
The observation deck is formed by a vast sheet of glass extruded from the building’s top sitting 300m above the city below. dubbed the Skytray, this 4.5m x 17.5m large, walkable glass platform evokes one of the most thrilling and immersive experiences of vertigo worldwide and is set to become Bangkok’s most exhilarating tourist destination. 
Characterised by its distinctive sculptural profile and the three-dimensional pixelated ribbon that coils around its full height, the 77-storey complex embodies a radical manifestation of the potential of the skyscraper to invigorate its urban context. The 150,000 sqm building comprises MahaNakhon square, a landscaped outdoor public plaza, as well as retail space, cafes, and restaurants with lush gardens and terraces spread over multiple levels, 200 bespoke homes and serviced apartments, as well as a boutique hotel with 150 rooms. 
“The building is an exploration of bringing the inside and the outside closer together and to create living spaces that float high above the city,” Ole Scheeren says.
The building’s detailed carved profile opens and connects to the surrounding urban fabric rather than overpowering it. What from a distance evokes a sense of being unfinished – a tower still under construction – reveals itself to be not a formal gesture, but a geometric ‘erosion’ that generates actual living spaces: terraces, balconies, floating living rooms and apartments with sweeping views that merge the tropical outdoors with the indoors.
Now open to the public, the visually unnerving attraction is sure to become a “must-see” for the city’s annual 20 million tourists. 
Images Srirath Somsawat © Büro OS
