The Standard BANGKOK MAHANAKHON The Standard’s Asian flagship is a creative stage on which Bangkok’s tongue-in-cheek exuberance meets vintage styling and organic forms for sensory experiences galore. Words: Neena Dhillon • Photography: Courtesy of Standard International
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ur brand is in a constant state of evolution,” says
Rather than overwhelm with size and grandeur, the
Verena Haller, Chief Design Officer of The Standard.
ground-floor lobby welcomes visitors into a green oasis that
“It’s important to create destinations that appeal
acts as a foil to the height and dimensions of the building.
not only to the international traveller, but to the local
Oversized rattan lamps, made in Thailand, sway above stone
community too. We strive to create places that are at home
flooring depicting a couple in an embrace, while textural
in their surroundings while also being distinctive and
inlays and curves, tactile banquettes and tropical planters
unique.” Delivering on this vision in spades, the brand’s
inject warmth and an enveloping quality. The lobby shop is
flagship property in Asia breathes fresh life into the Thai
a treasure trove, filled with a selection of luminous lanterns,
capital’s hospitality scene with multidimensional, energetic
contemporary jewellery and take-home objects made by
and eclectic spaces that serve as a magnet for Bangkok’s
local artisans. There isn’t a straight edge in sight – and
bright, young things as well as the world’s digital nomads.
there rarely will be in the journey yet to unfold.
Set in the 78-storey Ole Scheeren-designed Mahanakhon
Elevators hint at the audiovisual aspects to come,
tower, a spiralling intrigue of a building that makes its
the graded glass giving the appearance of a mirror that
mark on the skyline, The Standard’s second Thai property
stretches to eternity while curated music by DJ Rui plays
has been conceived by the brand’s in-house design team
– the soundtrack morphing from venue to venue. With the
in collaboration with Jaime Hayon of Hayon Studio, as an
arrival experience continuing up on reception level, all the
ultra-social urban retreat in the heart of the Central Business
senses are engaged. The eyes are drawn to displays of curios,
District. Here, the cultural vocabulary of the city is translated
collector items and porcelains while art pieces include the
into a backdrop for a sequence of immersive experiences,
bronze Personnage sculpture by Joan Miro, located in a niche
from art installations to sky-high cocktails, culinary
near the elevators, and a kaleidoscopic Marc Quinn painting
programming rich in contrasts to one-of-a-kind meeting
in the lobby – both from the collection of owning company
spaces. “Visible from all parts of Bangkok, the architecture
King Power. Installed behind the reception desks, Heaven’s
of the building is stark and prominent,” Haller notes. “We
Gate by video artist Marco Brambilla nods to the brand’s New
wanted to create interiors that are warm and filled with
York flagship, and elsewhere, further pieces come courtesy
landscape, life and colour to complement it.”
of Saatchi Art.