Elegant law office honours Thai culture

Project: DLA Piper Office Thailand
Award: Bronze, Workspace Interiors - Corporate Offices (Under 2,000 SQM), 2024
Location: Bangkok, Thailand
Design Practice: dwp | design worldwide partnership
Client: DLA Piper (Thailand) Limited

The DLA Piper Office in Bangkok, by dwp, offers a modern workspace reflecting the global law firm’s sophisticated brand while resonating with the local Thai context. Located on the 48th floor of One City Center, the 1,084 square metre space incorporates ergonomic workstations, flexible collaboration areas, and multifunctional spaces such as a reception that doubles as a town hall or seminar space. Collaborative spaces promote teamwork and interaction, ensuring the office remains functional and relevant over time. Thai cultural elements enhance the space and honour local traditions.

“The design concept centres around being bold, collaborative and timeless. These principles guided the creation of a workspace that exudes confidence and sophistication, with an emphasis on simple and elegant aesthetics, providing a comfortable and productive environment for employees and a positive impression for clients and visitors,” the design practice said.

Design highlights

Key design elements include a striking curved arch at the entrance and a green marble reception counter that serves as an elegant focal point. A gradient glass counter island adds a modern touch. The front area includes a reception and waiting lounge with a semi-open minibar adjacent to the main boardroom. This space is highly flexible, capable of converting into a town hall, waiting area, pantry, breakout area, or mini seminar space. Adjustable partitions allow the lounge area to adapt seamlessly to various functions.

The workstations and collaborative areas feature ergonomic furniture and thoughtful layouts to create a healthy and productive work environment. The main materials used include rustic metal dark brown laminate, green marble, patterned wallpaper and gradient glass, chosen for durability, ease of maintenance, and aesthetic appeal. Patterned wallpaper subtly integrates Thai culture into the design.

The judges singled out the "good balance of textures" and the "great material palette and colour scheme which is restrained but impactful where high contrasts occur such as the gradient glass island and the green marble".

They said: "Elegant sophistication is really the overall feeling that this brand specific corporate workplace projects. The design team has succeeded in their rendition of ideas that project strong corporate identity with well curated metaphor infusions of contextual influences."