With more than 300,000 sqm dedicated to almost every possible brand name, the CentralPlaza is the biggest shopping mall located in Bangkok, Thailand on Chaengwattana Road. Manuelle Gautrand‘s office took over the project with studies already well advanced by another firm because the client was looking to improve the overall design. Gautrand adopted a pragmatic approach that consisted of modifying contours and overhauling façades. The firm “concentrated on asserting a graphic presence strong enough to change the way volumes are perceived, innervating and expanding them to increase their legibility.” In an interview with Florence Accorsi about shops and leisure facilities, Gautrand explained, “We live in a consumer society, so business is all important. At the same time, retail outlets have become rendezvous places where people go to do more than just shop. They are there for an outing, to have fun, relax, meet other people… This gives us an opportunity to re-think these places and renew their identity codes, to redesign their architecture and space so as to introduce variety and unusual things in their programming.”
More about the shopping mall after the break.
