Samyan

Ideal Learning District with Legendary Delicacies

Step outside the university to learn about the new creative space steeped in everything creative, from community development pioneering projects to creative platforms that will put presented ideas into use in the future

 

With the potentials of the ever-evolving old district with a transportation network connected from the railway systems, which helps promote the connectivity between Bangkok’s central business district encompassing Silom and Sathorn, district with multiple higher education institutions like Chula-Suan Luang, and districts in Thonburi, as well as a series of district development plans developed by the Office of Property Management, Chulalongkorn University (PMCU), most notably Samyan Mitrtown, a mixed-use shopping, office, residential and leisure complex that increases activities held and extends time spent in the district to almost 24 hours a day, it is no wonder that Time Out Group, a world-class media and entertainment business group, has ranked “Chula-Samyan” 16th out of top 40 coolest neighborhoods around the world in 2020 thanks to its perfect blend of local culture, food, and fun developed to drive local businesses, which act as the heart of the city, while reflecting the spirit of the original community.

 

Besides being an area laden with educational institutions scattered throughout it and one of the important incubation districts, Samyan also takes pride in its having experimental space that allows students, designers, and the general public to try their hand at experimenting with their ideas from scratch, from CU ART 4C, the creative space of the Faculty of Fine and Applied Arts, Chulalongkorn University, that act as an art community that encourages students and those interested to learn how to live with the community and respond to its becoming an art city in the future, to The Shophouse 1527, a temporary experimental space where experiential exhibitions based on the collection and creative interpretation of narratives and data from the local people of the district rotate throughout a year.

 

Outdoor courtyards and parks of the district have also been subject to spatial transformation, becoming its main used areas after the coronavirus outbreak and the subsequent rise of well-being concern, such as Chulalongkorn University Centenary Park — one of the prototypes in the development of green space for communities that not only features an environment suitable for relaxation, but also can comprehensively deal with natural problems in the future —  featuring a retention pond created by depressing one side of the garden area below the grade resulting in its other side elevated and culminating in the inclined plane, along which flows rainwater into the pond. Its building complex is housed under the elevated side for organizing events and exhibitions in the future. Its garden is divided into five zones, each corresponding to the morphology of its respective area, which is considered a pilot example that can be further developed and emulated to other areas of the city.

 

What’s Worth Visiting in the District?

•   Transportation Network Throughout the District: Besides the main road network, National Stadium BTS station, and Samyan MRT station, there also is the MRT Blue Line Extension project, Hua Lamphong – Bang Khae and Bang Sue – Tha Phra in the district, which allows people in Thonburi to more easily access Hua Lamphong, Sam Yan, and Silom area, making it a district with ubiquitous connectivity;
•   Legendary Delicacies: With many famous restaurants’ first branch opened here, Samyan has become a district teeming with not only authentic traditional delicacies but also, thanks to newer generations succeeding their family businesses, novel delicacies that are highly creative while accentuating the prominent features of the original ones. Besides, the mixed-use projects in the district also house modern restaurants with changing environments and designs appealing to a diverse range of customers that allow for optimized all-day space utilization;
•   Old Shophouses Reintroduced with New Functions: As the district has become a new-age educational district in accordance with Chulalongkorn University’s area development master plan, buildings once unique to Samyan in the past have been reimagined into buildings with cutting-edge designs to serve as venues for learning and presenting creative works, while unused shophouses have been remodeled into commercial buildings;
•   Business-Conducive Art Space: Starting with the intention of young entrepreneurs and creators to contribute to driving the district and the creative economy to the next level, many art spaces have emerged, most prominently Yelo house at Soi Kasemsan 1, a bright yellow warehouse-turned-art community where art events rotate throughout the year, which acts as a door leading to other areas within the district, and Reno Hotel, a hotel for art-conscious guests renovated from a building erected the 1960s with its first floor housing a café and a shop selling works from creative entrepreneurs.