Thailand's new tallest building 'MahaNakhon' is designed to look unfinished

Looking at Bangkok’s brand new skyscraper you might wonder about the bits missing. It looks a bit as though it’s suffered some pixelated damaged from an alien foe in a summer blockbuster movie – perhaps a kaiju attack?

Or maybe like a very accomplished Lego skyscraper that ran short a few bricks.

MahaNakhon, as it’s called, is 314 metres high, which makes it the tallest building in Bangkok. And it’s definitely meant to look like that.

As the architect’s website notes, the project has been “carefully carved to introduce a three-dimensional ribbon of architectural pixels that coil up the tower’s full height to reveal the inner life of the building”.

The “glass skyboxes” and “indoor-outdoor living spaces” give the residents views of the river and skyline, as well as allowing other citizens to see in.

Ole Scheeren is the designer behind the unique structure, and the principal architect at firm Büro Ole Scheeren. He also designed The Interlace Residential Complex in Singapore while working with OMA, a building that was named the world’s best in 2015.

Scheeren describes his latest Bangkok project as “a vision of a tower that is very much about process, about becoming, about developing”.

“By revealing the people that are in the tower, you are suddenly connected back to the urban life of the city, the public realm … the public inhabitance is a very strong theme in a way.”

The MahaNakhon opened in the last week of August, an event that was celebrated by a spectacular light show. Residents will start moving in this month.