Long before there was a Thailand, or a Siam, or even an Ayutthaya, people have lived in this region. Some of the earliest humans known to mankind have left their traces in the soil of what we now call Thailand.
Our challenge in designing the National Discovery Museum of Thailand was to create an experience where visitors could understand how the identity of Thai people, their customs, beliefs and civilizations has developed over millennia of continuous habitation in this place.
And that long, continuous heritage led us to think of a river, a bolt of silk, a rainbow (or Roong), with no beginning and no end, as a metaphor to show that Thailand always was and always will be - right here.
So the story of Thailand and its people is played out along waving panels in the form of a rainbow, sweeping through the formal spaces of the building at odd angles, carrying images and objects from all periods of history and always asking questions, challenging perceptions, seeking answers.
The building itself is a piece of Thailand's history. Inside this elegant Italian structure we've installed a modern, immersive experience. Visitors follow the Roong of history from the dawn of time to the present and then have a chance to predict the future. The experience is playful, rewarding and layered with increasing levels of interpretation to satisfy all types of visitors, from the 'browsers' to the most studious researchers.
Using mechanical and digital interactive games, the Museum poses questions, or asks visitors to investigate or simply push buttons. It's a 'hands-on' active involvement, not a passive 'book-on-the-walls'.
The National Discovery Museum of Thailand is a play-learning environment. The Museum has a voice. It speaks to the visitors in plain modern Thai (and English), asking them to participate, to discover, to enjoy, to remember and to identify.Long before there was a Thailand, or a Siam, or even an Ayutthaya, people have lived in this region. Some of the earliest humans known to mankind have left their traces in the soil of what we now call Thailand.
Our challenge in designing the National Discovery Museum of Thailand was to create an experience where visitors could understand how the identity of Thai people, their customs, beliefs and civilizations has developed over millennia of continuous habitation in this place.
And that long, continuous heritage led us to think of a river, a bolt of silk, a rainbow (or Roong), with no beginning and no end, as a metaphor to show that Thailand always was and always will be - right here.
So the story of Thailand and its people is played out along waving panels in the form of a rainbow, sweeping through the formal spaces of the building at odd angles, carrying images and objects from all periods of history and always asking questions, challenging perceptions, seeking answers.
The building itself is a piece of Thailand's history. Inside this elegant Italian structure we've installed a modern, immersive experience. Visitors follow the Roong of history from the dawn of time to the present and then have a chance to predict the future. The experience is playful, rewarding and layered with increasing levels of interpretation to satisfy all types of visitors, from the 'browsers' to the most studious researchers.
Using mechanical and digital interactive games, the Museum poses questions, or asks visitors to investigate or simply push buttons. It's a 'hands-on' active involvement, not a passive 'book-on-the-walls'.
The National Discovery Museum of Thailand is a play-learning environment. The Museum has a voice. It speaks to the visitors in plain modern Thai (and English), asking them to participate, to discover, to enjoy, to remember and to identify.