The Standard Hotel Bangkok Mahanakon

When German architect Ole Scheeren designed Thailand’s tallest building in 2016, he carved a pixelated ribbon spiraling up its 314-meter facade, a glitch-in-the-Matrix effect that looks perpetually under construction. The King Power Mahanakhon held its “tallest” title for about two years before the Magnolias Waterfront Residences at ICONSIAM beat it by four meters. Now the lower floors house The Standard hotel, where even the elevators refuse conformity: each one sports a different bold color scheme, turning vertical transportation into a Pantone fever dream.

The Standard opened here in 2022, and it wasn’t the tower’s first choice of tenant. The hotel spent four years switching identities before it landed, briefly slated as a Marriott Edition property, then as what would have been the world’s first Accor-run Orient Express hotel, before King Power settled on The Standard as its flagship Asian outpost. Designer Jaime Hayon filled the space with curved, one-of-a-kind furniture and Mid-Century Modern flourishes, and the theming runs floor by floor: a dark green lobby, a lemon-yellow reception hall, elevators in shades bold enough to photograph. The building spent two years being the tallest thing in Bangkok. It spent none of them being the most restrained.