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A Thousand Worlds Within River City Bangkok
Inside River City Bangkok, a thousand worlds emerge through art, antiques, architecture, ...
Koktail spotlights standout Bangkok Design Week projects across Phra Nakhon, Bang Lamphu and Khaosan
Bangkok Design Week returns with the theme DESIGN S/O/S, a call to action amidst the uncertainty of our times. Secure domestic, outreach opportunities and sustainable future – that’s what it stands for. It is not so much a distress signal (as traditionally understood) as an expression of urgency.
Seeing challenges at different levels, the festival, which comprises hundreds of Thai and international artists and designers, poses a seemingly simple question: “What can design do?” With this central framing, design becomes a vessel for change, moving beyond surface beauty towards collective action and social impact.
Not only do well-known shopping malls such as Siam Paragon and ICONSIAM blossom into art galleries and spaces for creative expression, but historic neighbourhoods and narrow streets are also thoroughly revitalised, with their tall tales and long-lost traditions told with artistic visions and fierce imagination.
Ultimately, the question ties back to urban governance. How can Bangkok be reimagined as one big art gallery where everyone is a participant? How can Bangkok harness creative power and position itself as one of the main hubs of Southeast Asian art? It’s this combination of local ingenuity and overseas outreach that makes Bangkok Design Week special.
The festival unfolds over 11 days, from 29 January to 8 February, spanning several districts in Bangkok. These districts feature thought-provoking sculptures and creative projects, bringing together seasoned professionals and university students and offering them a shared platform where established voices meet emerging talents.
Koktail turns its lens towards some of the most striking highlights in Phra Nakhon, Bang Lamphu and Khaosan during Bangkok Design Week 2026, exploring how creative projects breathe new life into these historic neighbourhoods.
Phra Nakhon
Public Space Design SOS by Op-portus turns the Unakarn–Siripong strip median into an active venue rather than a leftover piece of infrastructure that most people overlook. Lined with food stalls, mini-libraries and a playground, the project demonstrates how even the most modest fragments of the city can be reclaimed for collective use.
Reading in the District by Cloud-floor invites readers to immerse themselves in books within the calm setting of Rommaninat Park. There’s a bookmobile nearby, offering a mix of academic and general titles on urban planning, featuring well-known thinkers like David Harvey and Jane Jacobs. For anyone curious about how cities shape our everyday lives, this is a place worth checking out.
Projecting Future Heritage: A Hong Kong Archive is a roving exhibition that explores how archives can function not only as records of the past, but also as tools for shaping what lies ahead. Set within the former palace of Prince Sommot Amornphan, the work unfolds through screen projections and architectural drawings that reveal the delicacy of the present moment. The gaze drifts backwards into memory even as it reaches forward into the unknown future.
Bang Lamphu – Khaosan
New World New Pulse by Wit Pimkanchanapong x MUSIC SU is a kinetic sculpture that breathes and recoils like the sensitive plant, maiyarap. Bursts of light scatter through the abandoned New World department store, animating it with sudden, living pulses.
8+1 Circuit of Stories by Bang Lamphu Everyday seeks to tell the stories of Bang Lamphu communities through oral histories and found fragments. The Muslim merchant community has as much of a story to tell as the textile community. And although the Bang Lamphu canal is not a person, it remains a revered presence crucial to the people of Bang Lamphu, and its story must also be told.
ASAP: Art, Space and People by Silpakorn University’s Faculty of Decorative Arts (DinDa and MinDA), showcases ongoing student theses that highlight emerging talents as they step onto the creative scene. Mirroring art’s constant state of becoming, these ongoing works speak to the endless nature of creativity and the continual renewal of artistic passion.
To experience the atmosphere of Bangkok Design Week 2026 across Phra Nakhon, Bang Lamphu and Khaosan, check out our video capturing these neighbourhoods in motion, or follow the journey on Koktail Magazine’s Instagram.
