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Architects: ASWA
- Area: 300 m²
- Year: 2018
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Photographs:Phuttipan Aswakool
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Manufacturers: AGC, Aluminium Composite, Bluescope, ICI
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Lead Architects: Phuttipan Aswakool, Chotiros Techamongklapiwat
Text description provided by the architects. ASWA search for the balance between the project’s objectives and limitations into the creation of the innovative looking geometry for Bitwise Headquarters, in Samutprakarn, Thailand. Bitwise is a manufacturer of air conditioners whose long track record and experience in the industry in Thailand. Their Headquarters design was realized from the conceptual organization’s image and identity.
The concept of rethinking “Innovation” applied into the form of the building. All the context, criteria, and functions needed to fit within the limitation of buildable area due to regulation, 26x28 m2 space which can be separated into two sections. The first section –the first and second floor- was scooped out a one-quarter of the space for main approach, drop-off, and entrance area.
The remaining space of the first floor is a reception area and meeting rooms then, it has been turned in to an exhibition space, meeting room, and a large conference area in the second floor. The second section – the third and fourth floors - serves as the company’s office space, which take a whole limitation area of 26x28 m2 and physically bigger than the public space at the first section of the building. The fourth floor also has a limitation of the setback regulation to form the shape of the building.
For an architectural structure, the conventional column structure was eliminated to create a form that could correspond not only to the required functionality but also the company’s approach toward image branding for Bitwise Headquarters. For the space of almost a 1,500 m2 capacity on the third and fourth floor to be able to cantilever 14 meters from the main structure and overhang above the drop-off area by using steel truss.
The truss structure also appears within the interior space of the third floor and these triangulated geometric patterns from structure were selected for the facade cladding pattern of the building’s exterior shell. The double-layered exterior shell for the south and west facade is the solution for such requirement with aluminum louvers whose forms are similar to those of ventilation fins of an air conditioner. The louvers welcome in the presence of natural light and outside surroundings.
Bitwise Headquarters is an innovative experiment where architecture, engineering and construction become parts of the conceptualization and development process in which a building’s physicality and functionality are conceived, not only to represent but also innately from the owner’s true identity.
