News · Design & Architecture · October 25, 2024

One Bangkok Opens Beside Lumphini Park

The largest private development in Thai history opened its shops and public spaces in October 2024 on 16.7 hectares at the corner of Rama IV and Wireless roads, with a Ritz-Carlton and an Andaz among its towers.

One Bangkok opened to the public in October 2024. It is a new district of office towers, hotels, apartments and shops at the south-east corner of Lumphini Park, where Wireless Road meets Rama IV Road, and it is the largest private property development yet undertaken in Thailand.

The scale

The site covers 16.7 hectares. It was formerly the Suan Lum Night Bazaar, and before that a military school. The developer is Frasers Property with TCC Assets, both part of the group controlled by Charoen Sirivadhanabhakdi, whose fortune comes from Chang beer and Thai spirits. The developer puts the investment at 120 billion baht.

The masterplan, by the American firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, sets office towers, hotels, apartment buildings and retail zones around a central green. The total floor area is 1.83 million square metres. The first office tower opened in March 2024 and the shopping areas followed in October. The tallest building, the Signature Tower, is planned to reach about 437 metres, which would make it the tallest in the country. Building will continue until around 2030.

What is there

Half of the site is kept as open space, with planted walks linking it to Lumphini Park across the road, and an underground passage leads directly to Lumphini station on the metro. The project is the first in Thailand to seek the highest LEED rating for a whole neighbourhood.

The retail zones are called The Parade, The Storeys and Post 1928. The first two opened on 25 October 2024 and the third is opening in phases. An art route two kilometres long runs through the public areas, with permanent sculptures by Anish Kapoor and Tony Cragg.

The plan includes five hotels. Among them are The Ritz-Carlton, Bangkok, the brand’s first in the city, and Andaz One Bangkok, from Hyatt.

For travellers

The district has changed the map of the city for visitors. The stretch of Rama IV Road along the south of the park was a place to drive through. It now has, within a few minutes’ walk, One Bangkok, the rebuilt Dusit Thani and its new shopping centre, and the park itself, the best place in central Bangkok for an early walk. Wireless Road leads north to the embassies and to Aman Nai Lert.

The project is the latest of the large mixed developments that have reshaped the city, following Iconsiam on the river in 2018.

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