Perfect Synthesis

Set within the Chao Phraya estate, Capella Bangkok is a destination-inspired hotel and Urban Oasis that showcases the collaborative effort of architecture firm hamiltons international and interior design practice bamo.

- Michele Koh Morollo

The brief from the client, Thailand-based luxury real estate developer Country Group Developments, was for a 28,500m2, 104-room hospitality property.

It was to be situated within the larger Chao Phraya Estate that would have its own individual identity, but have an architectural style that harmonises with the rest of the Estate.

To meet this brief, Hamiltons International architects Andy Miller and Richard Scott-Wilson created three, carefully scaled and proportioned components – a hotel block, a ground and first floor with courtyard spaces and connections, and a lower ground floor with gardens.

These components were laid out in an E-shaped floorplan that includes a lobby, an exclusive reception area called the Capella Living Room, a ballroom, two F&B outlets, 97 guestrooms with balconies, a spa designed by GOCO Hospitality, and seven luxurious villas designed PIA Interiors that run along the river’s edge.

To maximise the sweeping river views, the hotel block was designed as a single-loaded configuration of about 10 rooms per floor, with service stacks arranged to allow the rooms to flip in elevation between floors.

Wide room configurations allow for frontloaded bed and bathroom areas, while a backloaded corridor buffers noise from the busy Charoenkrung Road.

Below the guestrooms, the ground and first floor include a long, horizontal aspect lobby, which opens to the river, and connects to the adjacent ballroom, first-floor speciality dining, and Capella Living Room.