ICONSIAM Opens on Bangkok’s Thonburi Riverbank

ICONSIAM opened on 9 November 2018 on the west bank of the Chao Phraya River in Bangkok. The complex cost 54 billion baht, about 1.5 billion US dollars, and was developed by Siam Piwat, the owner of Siam Paragon, with the property company MQDC and the Charoen Pokphand Group. It was the largest private development in Thailand to that date.

The river as an address

Bangkok’s large malls had all been built inland, along the Skytrain on Sukhumvit and Rama I roads. ICONSIAM was a bet on the river, and on the Thonburi side, which had seen little investment. The site faces the old trading quarter of Charoen Krung across the water, and the developers built a public promenade of more than 10,000 square metres along the bank, with a fountain and light show in the evening.

The glass facade on the river is pleated like the folds of a traditional Thai costume. Several firms worked on the design, among them the Thai practice Urban Architects, Foster + Partners and Benoy.

What is inside

The complex has 525,000 square metres of retail space. Siam Takashimaya, the first Thai branch of the Japanese department store, anchors one end. ICONLUXE gathers the luxury houses in riverfront flagships. Apple opened its first shop in Thailand here, with a terrace over the water.

The most original part is on the ground floor. SookSiam is an indoor market that brings together food, crafts and produce from all 77 Thai provinces, sold from stalls and from boats on an artificial canal, in a setting that reproduces a floating market. It is staged, but the vendors and the food are real, and it gives visitors a survey of regional Thai cooking in one place.

The top floors hold restaurants with river views, a cinema, a 3,000-seat hall and a museum space.

The towers

Two residential towers rise beside the mall. Magnolias Waterfront Residences, at 318 metres and 70 storeys, became the tallest building in Thailand. The Residences at Mandarin Oriental, at 272 metres, are the hotel group’s first branded homes in Southeast Asia and stand opposite the Mandarin Oriental itself.

Access and effect

Free shuttle boats run from Sathorn pier, beside Saphan Taksin Skytrain station, and from other piers. Since December 2020 the Gold Line, a short automated railway, has linked the complex to the Skytrain network at Krung Thon Buri.

The opening confirmed the return of the river as Bangkok’s most desirable district. In the years that followed, the Capella and Four Seasons hotels opened on the opposite bank, and the restoration of the old Custom House as a Langham hotel continues the same movement.