The Prince Mahidol Hall designed by Architects 49 ltd for Thailand’s Mahidol University, is a masterful fusion of cultural influence and contemporary design.
Its elegant curved roof is notably prominent in most Thai Architecture, while the ribbed appearance is inspired by natural elements such as the ribbed form of some vegetation or the ribs of the human skeleton. The hall covers about 35 000 sqm and was completed in 2014 at an estimated cost of about 1.25 billion Thai baht (or N 7.1 billion). Here’s a description culled from the Architects 49 website,
Prince Mahidol Hall has been designed as a world class, 2,000 seats Theater which located in Mahidol University, Salaya campus, Thailand. The hall space is acoustically designed to accommodate the best natural acoustic for opera or orchestra symphony, by the way this hall would be achieve the various activities of the university.
The structure element of roof lines repetitive pattern was inspired by the beauty of human skeleton and the pitch form often found in traditional Thai architecture and also reflected to Mahidol university logo. The roof is also designed to eliminate exterior noise by the construction of two layers of envelop with inside a concrete shell. The lobby and corridors are arranged along the exterior glazed walls. Low-E glazing panels were chosen to allow natural day-light to create a warm ambience and present the inside space. Stage equipment had provided to support different performances with 2 elevators on main stage and orchestra pit. Other architectural elements, such as minimum noise level air conditioning supply, the double layer shell, solid wall and sound reducing doors were also important in ensuring the highest sound quality within the auditorium. A displacement air conditioning system, which distributes air to the seats from floor below, was therefore selected to efficiently ventilate the hall while reducing the sound and wasted energy in such a large volume hall.
Prince Mahidol Hall marks an emblematic structure and landmark to Mahidol University. The long span steel ribbing design maximizes the interior space where the skeleton of the building is made visible from both the exterior and interior views.
