LIGHTS, PIXELS CAMERAS AND
Thailand’s new tallest structure, mahanakhon Tower, opens with a radiant show
The rain came down just before the scheduled kick-off, a scatter of teasing drops at first then a roof-rattling downpour. The well-dressed guests at “mahanakhon: Bangkok Rising, The Night Of Lights”, an outdoor bash to launch Thailand’s new tallest building, found cover in the most civil manner. Beer, wine and finger food were whisked out on trays in Dean & Deluca, a bistro in the adjacent building owned by the same developer, Pace Development. Some wondered aloud: Where’s Pharrell Williams? Where’s Jose Carreras? Outside, onlookers who had filled BTS Chong Nonsi station and the surrounding footpaths, waiting for the light show, fled, scattered, or just held their position dauntlessly.
After over an hour delay, with still a fine sprinkle, we filed out to the vast square in front of mahanakhon Tower at around 8.30pm. No, the 77-storied, 314m-tall edifice, officially nicknamed the “Pixels” building, and so-called Tetris architecture or, imaginatively, the tower “nibbled by termites”, hasn’t opened yet (it will next year, and we can expect another bash). Still, Monday night’s light spectacle was a celebration of an urban mega-project that, regardless of the economy or the country’s political future, will remain one of the most ambitious.
The legendary Jose Carreras would sing his booming arias with an orchestra. The Thai hip hop group Thaitanium would rouse the crowd with their new tune glorifying Bangkok. But it was the illumination and jets of light that the guests had waited out the rain to see. Now, because the show involved the mahanakhon radiating coloured light from its jagged midsection, with countless more spotlights beaming up pink, red, yellow, green, white and other bright rays, the best way to see the whole glowing thing was to be at a distance — and that was how most photographers took pictures. For the guests, watching it right under the looming shadow of the building was a different sort of audiovisual thrill.
Looking up from our seats, the tower assumed the appearance of a mother ship. The stirring soundtrack was programmed to the rhythm of the dancing light, which lasted around five minutes and rendered the architecture into a surreal, modernist cube (they repeated the show three times on Monday night). It’s natural to expect that from now, or when the building is fully opened, MahaNakhon can send messages through its lighting the way, say, the Eiffel Tower or New York skyscrapers do in special occasions (lit up in the colour of the flag on the National Day, for instance). For better or worse, Bangkok has a forest of tall buildings, but we don’t have that many with bold architecture and still just a few that position themselves as part of the urban topography with visual significance.
That’s what the building aspires to be: the new landmark of Bangkok. When fully operational, the 1.8-billion-baht property on Narathiwat Ratchanakarin Road will house Bangkok Edition Hotel, the Ritz Carlton Residences Bangkok, the Sky Observation Desk and Bar, and a retail space called MahaNakhon Cube. The square in front, where the inauguration took place, will become an attractive activity space for events and concerts, which is actually something that’s missing from the Silom-Sathon area right now.
Chairing the ceremony was Tourism and Sports Minister Kobkarn Wattanavrangkul, while Finance Minister Apisak Tantivorawong was among the front-row guests. The main speech however was given by Sorapoj Techakraisri, CEO of Pace Development. He thanked his business partners, his supporters, his family and interestingly he also thanked the previous owner of the land plot, the Catholic Mission of Bangkok. He also reiterated his dream of seeing MahaNakhon becoming a landmark of the capital where tourists have to visit and top firms want to have an office. That will remain to be seen when the building rolls out the opening later this year and into 2017.
So where was Pharrell Williams? The singer-songwriter and his father, Pharoah, were in Bangkok to announce their culinary partnership with Dean & Deluca. At the event he was there on the front row, his face appearing on the projector a few times. But no, he didn’t get on stage to sing Happy as everyone had hoped; he didn’t join the Thai hip hop on stage as the confetti shot out and covered everyone in glitters. Maybe next time.