It's been a provocative year for Thailand's architecture scene. A handful of world-class superstructures have burgeoned onto Bangkok's skyline, while other ventures are on their way to attract world-class flak for blatant plagiarising. There's just so much to talk about. And the conversation is going to get even more compelling with the addition of 98 Wireless -- which is bound to literally turn the head section on Wireless Road into a slice of the Big Apple this November.
Sitting on a 2 rai plot of land only a short walk from the Ploenchit BTS station, the latest mega-luxe condo by Sansiri, 98 Wireless, is a beaux-arts beacon of refinement -- looking just like one of those towering buildings you'd see on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan. Appropriately like a corner of America, it is situated right next to the American embassy and its lush green gardens, giving one the chance to make-believe that they were overlooking a mini-Central Park.
There's a 570,000 baht per square metre price tag that comes with such a top-notch venture on a prime location, one that offers everything that should be a minimum requisite for the billionaire's lifestyle: from a common tearoom, business lounge, library, swimming pool, fitness facilities, 24-hour concierge to a Bentley limousine service. But in an era where it's the Hadidesque structures that wow and wonder, 98 Wireless has chosen to go with classical components as opposed to fusion oddities of today.
A fully-furnished rooms inside 98 Wireless.
Others may go for ultra shiny, ultra sleek and ultra modern, but the 25-storey condominium of 77 units follows the suit of landmark structures such as the Metropolitan Museum, Bowery Bank and Bergdorf Goodman. Expect the whole nine yards of limestone façades, arched windows, a strong three-floor pediment at the base of the building and beautifully hand-carved wrought iron railings.
Known as the Beaux-Arts style, many influential buildings from the 1880s to 1920s in Manhattan used this neoclassical style of architecture. Hence, the buildings of New York are emulated for the reason that their timelessness renders them beautiful even though 100 years have passed and that they remain harmoniously iconic among newer structures that have mushroomed upon the island.
Not that they just dropped a European-looking skyscraper into the heart of Bangkok, as this classic contemporary creation drops the more rigid details. Anne Carson, the American interior designer enlisted to work on the interiors of 98, explains: "We wanted it to feel authentic and realistic as a building built in the 21st century, not a replica of something in the past that would appear forced and inappropriate to the modern skyline of Bangkok that is emerging every day -- so it is without many of the heavily carved stone embellishments, with more streamlined and clean lines to the façade."
Thailand has long been a hot spot for mimicking the aesthetics of other nations when it comes to property and retail concepts, so we couldn't help but ask Uthai Uthaisangsuk, senior executive vice-president of Sansiri how he feels about it.
"There isn't anything right or wrong about that, but when doing these concepts, you really need to get to the core of the design," he says. "Some people may just make the door frame like it, but inside, it's still normal. That's what is called perfunctory. Some Thais just want to have the mood and feel, but to have a great project, you have to have a deep knowledge and the designer too must have a deep knowledge about the concept and how to apply it so it goes hand in hand with the project. I believe that architecture must come with everything, we don't just open catalogues and tell the designer to copy that."
With that said, fly to New York they must, in order to check out materials used and colour shades, down to the flowering tree substitutes that would still be acceptable for our country's different climate. The list of hardware and furnishings of the units rings out with world-class names that stay true to what they are trying to create, such as Baldwin doorknobs (100% bronze), Italian marble from the Carrara Mountains and plaster moulding by Hyde Park Mouldings, a top hand-craft studio that also does ornamentation for places like Buckingham Palace.
Very chic and very American aesthetics like you'd see in any Gossip Girl loft on the Upper East Side or veranda in the Hamptons are mirrored thanks to the Ralph Lauren Home pieces that will be used to decorate 98's common areas. This is the first Ralph Lauren Home residence in the world and frankly, it's a very welcome choice, as opposed to the other fashion-branching-out-to-home-deco high-end names that come to mind, with images pertaining to much too new money, too tacky and too much fur.
This high-end real estate development is likely to be a shoo-in investment. Srettha Thavisin, president of Sansiri, reveals that one of the biggest reasons estates don't rise in value, as exemplified by some of his company's villages, is when non-professionals are left to run the estate. Sansiri offers professional services that run the admin and mundane chores of condominiums and villages after they have been sold out -- leaving no room for tenants to fight over the hours of how long a fountain should be open.
The Grand Staircase in the Duke Mansion in New York, one of the design inspirations for 98 Wireless.
"Tenants wanted to turn the fountain off to save money, but it only saves, what, 20 baht per month?" the president says. "When people skimp on using or fixing things when they should, it ends up costing more when they fix it later. We know how to run properties and what should be done."
But it's unlikely that there will be petty fountain arguments here, as future tenants of 98 are all in good hands, what with their round-the-clock personal service not unlike those available at a six-star hotel. Clustered in a best of the luxury lifestyle, 98 Wireless will definitely look and feel grand and stately even a century from now if it can be all it sets out to be.
98 Wireless will celebrate its grand opening next month.
The Beaux Arts-style at the Frick Collection in New York.
Exterior of Ralph Lauren Women Store, one of the design inspirations of 98 Wireless.
Inside the studio of Hyde Park Mouldings.
Inside the studio of Hyde Park Mouldings.
DID YOU KNOW?
Although moulding can be made by 3D printing today, handmade plaster mouldings still trump them for sharper and more intricate details that machines cannot replicate. With its weather-resistant qualities, these wall beauties will not burn in the case of a fire, let alone shrink, melt or fade in colour. Interestingly, there are rarely any commissioned Thai designs within Hyde Park's archives, because wood carving is better suited to such patterns, according to owner David Nassim.
Inside the studio of Hyde Park Mouldings.
Inside the studio of Hyde Park Mouldings.
