The Australian Embassy in Bangkok has been given an Interior Architecture Award in the Australian Institute of Architects (RAIA) International Awards that were announced in Singapore on 20 July 2018.
This makes the Embassy eligible for the Jorn Utzon award which is the named prize given to the best project in the International Awards that will be announced at the RAIA National Awards event on 1 November 2018.
According to the jury, “From the red sand of the desert to the cities along the coastal fringe, the Australian landscape forms an intrinsic part of our national identity. This connection between land and culture provides the conceptual framework for the Australian Embassy in Bangkok, creating a distinctively Australian space within an urban Thai setting.”
“This refined and evocative interior transforms the spatial experience of the embassy from a defensive fortress into a vibrant cultural and diplomatic hub,” jury citation.
Professor Tom Heneghan in his Architecture Australia review of the Embassy design, referred to the use of metaphor to represent a nation diplomatically and noted how, “The atrium, for example, emerged from the architects’ ideas of canyons and, inspired by such lyrical land scenes, they evolved the design’s three-dimensional, collage-like, “painterly” composition.”
“As is typical in traditional Thai architecture, both exterior and interior spaces are animated by water, with evaporation mitigating high air temperatures and sunlight reflecting off pools to brighten ceilings and the undersides of canopies,” wrote Professor Heneghan.
Source: BVN