Prince Mahidol Hall

More than 10 architectural firms had submitted their projects to the contest, challenging the times with a creative work and representing a strong sign of contemporaneity The competition was strongly supported by three authoritative members of Mahidol University in Salaya, Thailand, representative figures of the history of modern and traditional Thai architecture: Amnuay Suwankiri, Pichai Vasanasong and Arwut Ngernchuklin.

The Thai studio Architects 49 Ltd. won the competition with a proposal that incorporates and embraces, harmonising it, past and present. Architects 49 was founded in 1983 by Nithi Sthapitanonda, a former student of Chulalongkorn University and University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

The chosen project is the Prince Mahidol Hall, built within the Mahidol University campus: it is a multifunctional hall used as a concert hall, ceremonies or events with 2,000 seats and the best acoustics. The architects were inspired by organic and traditional Thai forms.

The lobby and exterior glass corridors offer an extraordinary view. The double-layered roof was designed to isolate external noise and its structure is made up of 19 steel elements whose design pattern recalls the skeleton of the human body, symbolising the search for medical knowledge that is the basis of the university’s birth. The interior space is completely open and develops around a large full-height void, crossed by walkways, and designed to house large installations and light elements. Prince Mahidol Hall is the largest concert hall in Thailand. The hall is named after Prince Mahidol Adulyadej. The hall was inaugurated on 14th April 2014 and was also chosen by the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra for its 100th Anniversary World Tour 2014