Siam Paragon
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 Siam Paragon |
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| Facts and statistics | |
|---|---|
| Location | Rama I Road, Pathum Wan, Bangkok, Thailand |
| Opening date | December 9, 2005 |
| Developer | The Mall Group and Siam Piwat |
| Management | The Mall Group |
| Owner | The Mall Group and Siam Piwat |
| No. of stores and services | 270+ |
| No. of anchor tenants | 7 |
| Total retail floor area | 400,000 m2 (total retailed area) |
| Parking | For about 4,000 cars (100,000 m2) |
| No. of floors | 10 floors (B - G - M - 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 4A - 5 - 6) via south lift lobby |
| Website | www.siamparagon.co.th |
Siam Paragon Thai: สยามพารากอน, Syam Paragon is a shopping mall in Bangkok, Thailand. It is one of the biggest shopping centers in Asia.[citation needed] Opened on December 9, 2005, it includes a wide range of specialty stores and restaurants as well as a multiplex movie theater (consisted of 15 large size theaters with one of the them having the biggest screen and seating capacity in Asia) and the Siam Ocean World (Underwater world) aquarium (the largest aquarium in South East Asia) and an exhibition hall and the Thai Art Gallery and also an opera concert hall. It also has a large bowling alley and karaoke center. It is a joint venture by Siam Piwat, the company that owns the adjacent Siam Center/Siam Discovery shopping malls, and The Mall Group, which also owns The Emporium. Siam Paragon has attracted large crowds since it opened, but financial results aren't reported by the privately held Siam Paragon Development. [1]
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[edit] Name
Siam in Siam Paragon like many names in the area, refers to the Siam District, which roughly corresponds with Rama I Road ending at Ratchaprasong, and is used for naming the station, Siam Station.
[edit] History
Siam Paragon was built on the former location of the Siam Intercontinental Hotel, which was torn down in 2002 at the end of its lease. The site, leased for 30 years, is Bureau of the Crown Property land and at one time was the royal parkland of the Srapatum Palace. During the mall's construction, waiting passengers on the Bangkok Skytrain's Siam station platform could watch the building take shape. Now the Siam station platform has one of the best views of the mall's raised courtyard, where many expositions and events are held. Often people will purchase a one-station trip ticket (with which they can leave the same station from where they purchased the ticket) simply to watch performances or other happenings on the courtyard.
When the mall opened on December 9, 2005, workers were still putting on finishing touches. During the first few months of its opening, there were signs of a hurried finish throughout the building, with unpainted ceilings and cracked floor tiles.
It was built at a cost of about 15 billion[2] baht or 450 million US$ and covers an area of 52 rai (8.3 ha, 21 acres).
[edit] Design
Siam Paragon was designed by J+H Boiffils [1], an architecture and interior design firm based in Paris founded by the wife and husband team Jacqueline and Henri Boiffils.
Their work covers a wide spectrum of categories including beauty centers, department stores, shopping malls, cineplexes, hotels, restaurants, retail boutiques, and residential properties. Their Asian projects include The Esplanade Cineplex and shopping mall, Vie Hotel, The River luxury condominiums for Raimon Land and Crystal Design Center in Bangkok, and a number of other projects in Phuket, Shanghai, Hong Kong, and India. They had previously designed The Emporium (Bangkok) shopping mall for the same developer.
For Siam Paragon, the design brief required to create a complex unprecedented in Southeast Asia that was both commercially and culturally focused. Boiffils’ response was that Bangkok was lacking a sense of theatre, so their design concept offered a lifestyle complex that married multi-faceted entertainment and dining venues with upscale shops, along with areas of nature for the enjoyment of city dwellers.
“It is no longer enough for shopping meccas to sell goods and make money, “says Boiffils. “Today’s shopping center has a cultural obligation as well.” To create Siam Paragon as a place offering culture, entertainment, and education along with shopping and dining within one complex, Boiffils incorporated Siam Ocean World in the basement level, a gourmet market and food halls on the ground level, and exhibition spaces and a multi-plex cinema including IMAX theatres on the top floor. The vertical garden is a French innovation in garden design; rising from a water feature, it welcomes shoppers at the mall entrance.
Direct access to the complex via the Siam skytrain station makes Siam Paragon easily accessible to all people.
[edit] Clientele
Siam Paragon has become since its opening the place to be for Thailand's upper class, tourists, and locals who come to be seen and to see what Thailand has to offer. However, despite its reputation for showcasing hundreds of cars over $300,000 each, and some pushing a million dollars, its crosstown rival and rather empty Gaysorn has remained the most popular spot for rich foreigners, especially from the Middle East. Paragon remains among the most popular shopping ground for the Thai elite, without excluding everyday commonplace and popular Thai items.
[edit] Location
Siam Paragon is on Rama I Road in Pathum Wan district, and is adjacent to other shopping areas. It is next door to Siam Center and Siam Discovery Center and opposite Siam Square. MBK Center is also nearby. An elevated walkway beneath the BTS Skytrain tracks links Siam Paragon to the Ratchaprasong intersection, where CentralWorld, Gaysorn and several other shopping malls and hotels are located.
[edit] Transportation
- BTS Skytrain Sukhumvit Line and Silom Line – Siam station has a skybridge linked to Siam Paragon's M floor.
- Parking – 100,000 squares meters with spaces to accommodate 4,000 cars.
[edit] Facilities
Siam Paragon is situated on 13 acres (32 rai) and has a total gross area of 300,000 square meters. [3]
[edit] Department store and retail shops
The Paragon Department Store comprises 50,000 square meters. Another 40,000 square meters are devoted to retail shops selling luxury brand apparel, jewellery, electronics, musical instruments, audio equipment, sporting goods and exotic supercars, as well as a Kinokuniya, SE-ED Book Centerbook store. Some of the most renowned boutiques found in Siam Paragon include Gucci, Chanel, Balenciaga, Valentino, Kenzo, Hermès, Giorgio Armani, Jimmy Choo, Chloé, Dolce & Gabbana, Burberry, Salvatore Ferragamo, Cartier, Bally, Fendi, Zara, MNG, Versace, Louis Vuitton, Givenchy, Marc Jacobs, Emporio Armani, Hugo Boss, Prada, Ermenegildo Zegna, Swarovski, Coach, Shanghai Tang, Jim Thompson, Tod's, Mulberry, Kenzo, Escada, Emilio Pucci, Canali, Bvlgari, Paul Smith and many other upmarket brands. The car showrooms in Siam Paragon including Aston Martin, Bentley, Ferrari, Porsche, Jaguar, Lamborghini, Spyker, Lotus, Maserati, BMW, Hummer and MTM.
[edit] Gourmet Market and food halls
The Gourmet Market is an 8,000 square meter internationally oriented grocery store on the ground level of the shopping center, it carries a vast selection of top imported competing brands and foodstuff items from various nations in Europe, Japan, Korea, and Malaysia, as well as quality exotic brands such as those from Sri Lanka. Domestic Thailand produced items carried often have different flavours or are speciality brands which are not usually stocked elsewhere in Thailand. The sheer number of unique items here is among the most diverse in Thailand, with many expatriot chefs creating their own local brands. The front half of the store is oriented to trial tasting of wide variety of items, and a fresh market with freshness and presentation not typical of Thai supermarkets. It is adjacent to a food court and bread shops area that has a wide range of restaurants and food stalls.
[edit] Foreign and foreign oriented restaurants
Siam Paragon has several restaurants and food outlets from other countries, including Tony Roma's, McDonald's, KFC, Häagen-Dazs, Swensen's Ice Cream, LeNotre, MOS Burger, Saint Etoile Bakery, Orvin and many others. Popular domestically run foreign oriented restaurants include Fuji Japanese, Kabuki Japanese Restaurant. Expatriot chef run and operated food outlets add an artistic and creative streak to the otherwise chain dominated scene of Thai malls outside of the Siam Station area.
[edit] Thai traditional art
There is a huge section of ultra chic Thai traditional arts stores carrying everything from tiny items to very expensive and highly decorative silk, ivory, and antiques, ostentatiously geared towards the extremely wealthy.
[edit] Royal Paragon Hall
The Royal Paragon Hall is an 12,000-square-metre events facility, with a capacity for around 5,000 people and is suitable for concerts, conventions and special exhibitions.[4]
[edit] Paragon Cineplex
- See also: Paragon Cineplex
Operated by Major Cineplex, the 25,000-square-meter Paragon Cineplex comprises a 14-screen multiplex movie theater, including smaller Ultra Screen cinemas with reclining seats and the Enigma members-only lounge, as well as an IMAX theater and the Siam Pavalai, a 1,200-seat theater suitable for theatrical and musical performances.
[edit] Leisure activities
A California Wow! fitness center is on the fourth level, while the 30-lane Blu-O Rhythm and Bowl and karaoke facility is on the sixth, adjacent to the Paragon Cineplex.
[edit] Edutainment Zone
- Music Campus for General Public (MCGP) the college of music, Mahidol University
- Institution for language-learning, Berlitz.
[edit] Hotel
The five-star Kempinski Hotel Siam and serviced apartment complex is being built on 13 acres (53,000 m2) at the rear of the Siam Paragon property; open in end 2009. [5]
[edit] Siam Ocean World
Inside Siam Paragon is Siam Ocean World, the largest aquarium in Southeast Asia where featuring marine animals which include; Penguins, Grey Nurse Sharks and Giant Spider Crabs etc. The aquarium also offers a "Dive with the Sharks program" where visitors can scuba dive in the Open Ocean side by side with the sharks and rays. The aquarium also features "Sanyo 4D X-venture" a state of the art 4D Theater.
Siam Paragon, an Australian company, uses a two tier pricing system. Thai looking customers are charged 450 baht for adults and 250 baht for children, others are charged 850 baht and 650 baht respectively.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ Nguyen, Lan Anh (July 21, 2006). "Unfinished Central World to hold grand opening", ThaiDay (print edition).
- ^ [Siam Paragon - Facts, Encyclopedia Article, and Discussion Forum]http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Siam_Paragon<
- ^ Siam Paragon - The Pride of Bangkok, the shopping center's original website, mirrored at Tripod.com.
- ^ [www.royalparagonhall.com Royal Paragon Hall website]
- ^ Kempinski Hotels - Development
[edit] External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Siam Paragon |
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Siam Ocean World |
- Official site
- The Pride of Bangkok – History of the Siam Paragon and its location at 2bangkok.com.
- J+H Boiffils Architecture and Interior Design [2]
Coordinates: 13°44′47″N 100°32′6″E / 13.74639°N 100.535°E
