Pichet Vanitcharoenthum
Abstract :
Phaholyothin Place Plaza is located on the corner of Phaholyothin Road and Soi Sailom. Comprised of a supermarket on the ground floor, a shopping mall with retail shops accessible from both street corners occupied the main floor up to the 3rd floor space, and the 7th floor to 16th floor upper stack for residential units designed by well-known architect Terdkiat Sakkhamduang. The commercial space was inserted at the base of the most prime zone of the location. The mall entrance access from the main street with a crowded pedestrian walkway by the grand staircase led to the main level of the three-floor commercial space with a full-height open well atrium. This 6.50 meter-wide grand staircase is set inside the recess portal. In the center of the staircase line up a pair of 1.00 m. x 1.00 m. columns, one on the front and the other on the upper floor inside, separating the stairs into 2 parts with a plant box nested between the two columns. The original surface of the wall and floor is finished with dark grey granite and a stainless steel handrail. The portal canopy installed the curved 3-dimensional space frame with a metal sheet roof that looks like an outstanding throwback to 30 years ago. After it was completed and opened in 1995, about 28 years passed, and today this main entrance portal looks dark from everyday piling dust and scratching the surface from heavy duty periods along the years. (1) The building committee needed a grand renovation to freshen the common areas with a more trendy look, marking a beautiful city-life scenery. Particularly the main entrance must be elegant and invite the crowd from the street. In the meantime, getting the same language with this elegant building typology designed in 1990s.
Objectives :
To renovate the main entrance and pedestrian entrance in front of Phaholyothin Place. The expected result is looking for not only a more trendy appearance and recognition by the pedestrians passing by but also harmonization with the existing architecture designed by the famed architect.
The construction process must not obstruct the tenants everyday activities and commercial hours of the plaza. The total cost and time frame should be reasonable. The architect’s task was to find the directions and suggest the strategy, material selections and construction framework to respond to these conditions.
Conceptual Framework :
Due to the condition of the time frame, cost and construction method to reach the renovation goal. The architect suggests the revitalization for the strategy. The main feature existing shady canopy replaced with transparance overhanging. The staircase surface material that scatched from long years duty replaced with new coming trendy materials. Added more lighting design tecniques to improve the mood & tone vibe. The outcome must be still harmonized to the overall appearance of the existing building.
Process / Methodology :
The revitalization process started with the main appearance feature. The dusty eclipse space frame canopy was replaced with a widespread clear horizontal panel, 4.40 m x 6.30 m in dimension, flooding the natural daylight over this new entrance portal. The budget, time frame, construction tecniques limitation still to be concerned along the renovation process. This transparent plane is composed of lightweight shinkolite acrylic sheets with a slim strip frame instead of old fashion heavily glass panel, supported by a 4-boldly cantilever WF beam steel structure. The twin girder in the center embraced the huge column firmly to support and balance the entire new canopy structure.
The material refurnishing began with removing the visual obstruction and dark color surface finishing; the plant box in the shade was moved off and replaced with wall shiny pink granite make the stairway look wider. Expanded pedestrian platform for more invitation from the pedestrian. Replaced the wall and ceiling surface inside the portal with vertical synthetic wood planks to make the sense of warm welcome and look unified. (2)
LED line lights illuminated every step leading to the main floor inside. This lighting design tool was also used to emphasize the magnificent steel structure line above, the wood cladding edge, and the ceiling lighting slot to lighten up the lively vibe for the new freshened design. Particularly the safety for streetfronts in twilight.
Relocate stainless steel handrail by splitting it off from the center line attached to both sides of the new wood panel for safety and to conserve the resources reusing even a little item as possible.
The renovation process runs after the 10.00 to 10.00 commercial hours of the mall. The preparation was carefully planned on a meeting of construction parties since day one of the schedule and must be kept on track every step of the way, while the front entrance door is still opened to welcome the public daily.
Techniques and Materials :
The main purpose of the renovation and maintenance work was to lighten the main entrance with as much natural daylight as possible (transparency). The architect replaced the dark metal sheet canopy with the large transparent frame overhanging above the entrance. This transparence frame is composed of lightweight Shinkolite acrylic sheets with a slim strip frame, supported by a WF beam steel structure. This acrylic sheet not only reduces the dead-load weight of solid safety glass but also makes the 4.40-meter cantilever possible for structural load design within the budget. The rain drainage gutter is placed along the building edge and leads by the hidden pipe to the manhole below. (3)
The replacement of the column and floor surface from dark grey granite to shiny pink granite lightens up the entrance portal. The stair treads and platform edge were sand-brushed for slip protection.
The syntactic wood plank cladded the wall surface and overall inside the portal ceiling aimed for the consistent outcome setting and harmonized with the tangerine color scheme throughout the building. The steel structure frame with dark black paint makes the minimalist appearance trendy
The lighting designer proposed the entire lighting plan and supervised the position of equipment installation precisely while construction ran along the schedule. This ensures the every illuminate equipment must be placed in the right positions before covering overall the finished surfaces, such as the LED lines of the steel structure above, the ceiling lighting slot, the LED lines beneath the stair riser nose, and the top plate of the wood panel. (5)
The transparency of the acrylic sheet canopy floods the natural daylight over the new entrance plaza in the daytime and dramatically illuminates light at twilight. (4)
Result / Conclusion :
The renovation program aims to improve the main entrance portal to become a more modern look and be attractive at the same time so it could stand proudly among the neighborhood buildings. The architect suggests revitalization for the design direction. The term “transparency – warm bright mood and tone –luminance” is set as the goal for the project evaluation. The outcome completed the purpose of freshening this 30-year-old building to become more notable and recognized by the crowd. This area turns into the assembly point for the officer from the Phaholyothin Place Plaza and people around there. Lately it generated a very nice kiosk group on the plaza provided for street food tenants that circulated around the office hours. In the evening, the illumination from the entrance portal created a comfortable and safe sense for the street pedestrian.
References :
Frampton, Kenneth. (1985). Modern Architecture: a Critical History. London: Thames and Hudson.
Rowe, Peter G. (1987). Design thinking. Mass. U.S.A.: The MIT Press.
Yasuhiko Taguchi & I.M. (1996). Tao. American Shopping Centers 2. Japan: Shotenkenchiku-Sha.
Muto, Shoichi. (1993). Commercial Space in Europe ‘93. Japan: Graphic-sha Publishing.
