The Met is a 66-storey residential high-rise in Bangkok. Located on South Sathorn Road in central Bangkok, the building is a welcome addition to the skyline of the city. It has already taken its place as a distinct trendsetter in the high-rise residential development of Thailand and in South East Asia as a whole.
The project tries to address the issue of high-rise, high-density living in the tropics, and does so successfully. Most tropical high-rise housing in developing countries replicates cold-climate models with sealed facades and relies heavily on air conditioning. However, in the tropics, light winds, year-round balmy weather, constant temperatures and high humidity make outdoor living desirable. The high density of the site with a plot ratio of 10 to 1 provided the architects with an opportunity to devise a model of a green tower that was naturally ventilated and had a strong indoor-outdoor relationship.
This model was a necessary alternative to the sealed, glazed curtain-wall buildings being erected across the tropical regions. The apartments in the Met are in effect houses in the sky with breezeways, full exposure to light and views, outdoor living areas, planters and high-rise gardens, and open-air communal terraces with barbeques, libraries, spas and other facilities. Sky terraces, both private and public, link the blocks every six storeys, creating dramatic yet human-scaled external spaces. The building is planted on every horizontal surface including private balconies. Water pools are inserted along with gardens on the linked floors. Vertical faces are shaded by creeper screens. All apartments are cross-ventilated, and all face both north and south. The staggered block arrangement gives the apartments light and air on all four sides. An important aspect of this building is that the design makes it possible for its residents to live without air conditioning. Thai elements – ceramic tiles, textiles and timber panelling – are abstracted to organise forms. The cladding on the east and west facades reinterprets Thai temple tiles, and the staggered balconies recall traditional timber panelling on Thai houses. The east and west walls incorporate random mirrored stainless-steel pleated panels, a contemporary interpretation of the sparkling mirrors of Thai temples.
High-rise requires large structures. Rather than intruding into the interior, the columns extend on the exterior of the building, creating protected indoor-outdoor spaces for balconies and terraces, and allowing apartment layouts to be standardised, even at lower levels. These exposed buttress columns are lit at night, transforming the building into an elegant, vertical screen.
Details
| Title | The Met Tower - High Rise Building On Site Review Report |
| Pages | 65 |
| Language | English |
| Format | |
| Size | 9 MB |
| Download Method | Direct Download |
| Download Links | BECOME A MEMBER VIEW DOWNLOAD LINKS |
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