project name/ Bitwise Headquarters
status/ completed
location/ samutprakarn, thailand
years/ 2014 - 2018
type/ office
corporate team/ interior design: SAID
area/ 2,500 sq.m.
project info/
ASWA searches for the balance between the project’s objectives and limitations in creating the innovative-looking geometry for Bitwise Headquarters in Samutprakarn, Thailand.
Bitwise is a manufacturer of air conditioners whose a long track record and experience in the industry in Thailand. The new Headquarters design realizes the conceptual organization’s image and identity. The concept of rethinking “Innovation” applied to the form of the building. All the context, criteria, and functions needed to fit within the limitation of the buildable area due to regulation, 26x28 m2 space, which can separate into two sections. The first section –the first and second floor- was scooped out a one-quarter of the space for the primary approach, drop-off, and entrance area. The remaining length of the first floor is a reception area and meeting rooms. Then, it turns into an exhibition space, meeting room, and a large conference area on the second floor. The second section – the third and fourth floors - serves as the company’s office space, which takes a whole limitation area of 26x28 m2 and is physically more extensive than the public space in the first section of the building. The fourth floor also has a limitation of the setback regulation to form the shape of the building.
For an architectural structure, the elimination of conventional column structure to create a form that could correspond to the required functionality and the company’s approach toward image branding for Bitwise Headquarters. For the space of almost a 1,500 m2 capacity on the third and fourth floor to cantilever 14 meters from the main structure and overhang above the drop-off area by using steel truss. The truss structure also appears within the interior space of the third floor—the triangulated geometric patterns for the facade cladding pattern of the building’s exterior shell. The double-layered exterior shell for the south and west facade is the solution for such requirements with aluminum louvers whose forms are similar to those of ventilation fins of an air conditioner. The louvers are welcome in the presence of natural light and outside surroundings.
Bitwise Headquarters is an innovative experiment where architecture, engineering, and construction become parts of conceptualization and development. A building’s physicality and functionality represent the owner’s true identity innately.