The objective of the Thai Public Broadcasting Service (Thai PBS) is to establish itself as an alternative media organization free from state power and market mechanisms, proposing itself as a new form of public space, something that has never before existed in Thailand.
Thai PBS first began operations in 2009 and its first headquarters and broadcasting station were located in the same building. However, having a high-rise office building had several limitations, in particular, the most important issue was the lack of interaction with the public, which contradicted with the founding principle of the organization to serve the people directly. The organization therefore initiated a policy to build a new head-quarter in Lak Si district on Vibhavadi-Rangsit Road with Plan Associates in charge of the architectural design.
"We started by interpreting the behavior of the organization. Thai PBS is very interactive with the public. As we've seen from their programs that interact with communities, and at the same time they are approached by the public as well. This explains why the design is very public oriented. We want to enhance the interactions that take place between this media institution and the public." says Boonyarit Khodilokrat, principal architect of Plan Associates.
The architects broke from the traditional norms of most television stations, which are often designed to be enclosed areas for security reasons, and divided the 4.3-hectare site into different zones. The area at the front, adjacent to Vibhavadi-Rangsit Road is a park, which is open for public use. It has no fence, allowing anyone to access the park for recreation. The local authorities are responsible for the security and maintenance.
Next to the park are a cluster of buildings situated along the east-west alignment. The cluster consists of an administrative building, a learning centre, an operations building and a service building. All four buildings embrace the park and a courtyard centered within the cluster. The learning center hosts a museum, a library and a convention room. Since the operations building consists of a newsroom, broadcasting studios, and a control room, and the service building and parking area require higher level of privacy, the two buildings are located at the deep end of the property.
The courtyard functions as a meeting point with circulation designed in such a way that visitors can enter the area before dispersing to the various directions of each building. Having an open space also enables the buildings to fully embrace natural light, which helps to reduce the use of electricity during the day. The green area is aesthetically pleasing and provides the entire area with ambience and shade. This area is considered the heart of the project, interconnecting the buildings with its presence.
The buildings are formed along an imaginary axis based on the shape of the land. This formation represents architectural motion and the notion of progressiveness at once. Stylistically the architecture is designed to be unified, "We think of this place as a station, which also refers to an assembly, a hub. That is what this place really is, it is a media station. The image of a station is basically a big building with a factory-like structure, and this place is a factory that basically produces media," explained Khodilokrat. To complement the structure with an industrial, modern and international vibe, the design team intentionally reveals the material textures such as mirror, aluminum, steel and exposed concrete, to reflect the concept of a quality media organization.
In addition to their global and elegant vision, the architects tried to reflect in the design the interaction between the organization and people, which results in a humble architectural creation. The building gives the image of a media institution that is welcoming and less intimidating than most office buildings. "Visitors can walk in here and sit in front of the building without having to stand awkwardly or sit at the back like they have to when they enter most office buildings," says Khodilokrat.
The important aspect the architects have consistently emphasized is how the new head-quarters aims not to be just another office building of a television station, but a social space accessible to everyone, in other words, another key in the mechanism to move society forward.
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