02-02-2017

The enchanted garden of Nai Lert Park in Bangkok

Ken Schluchtmann,

Bangkok,

Photographers are always on the job, even when they're on holiday.



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The enchanted garden of Nai Lert Park in Bangkok Photographers are always on the job, even when they're on holiday. And in Bangkok, renowned architecture photographer Ken Schluchtmann immortalised the tropical garden-park of the Swissotel Nai Lert Park. A paradise of lush vegetation that is facing a shaky future.


Despite tourist numbers being on the rise in Bangkok, so there is a higher demand for accommodation, in early 2017 the Nai Lert Park, one of the first 5-star hotels in the Thai capital established 36 years ago closed its doors, falling prey to changes in hotel chains and the continuously evolving market. 
For Ken Schluchtmann, a photographer our readers are familiar with through his studies of Norway and Myanmar, it was the perfect opportunity to immortalise one of the few green corners of Bangkok, famous in the '80s for the landscaping of the outdoor area, with waterways and a freeform pool. 
A true miracle when you think that the location where tall trees now stand, where water now flows and where you can enjoy a pleasant microclimate used to be the bus depot of the Nai Lert family, the first developer and Thai property giant from the early 1900s. A site where the descendants decided to build the hotel and its landscaping project.
In the early millennium, the owners injected a lot of money to restyle the interiors, engaging architects Calvin Tsao and Zack McKown who went for a local narrative so the hotel would stand out from the standardised anonymity of the luxury category.
These efforts didn't pay off, and the facility closed a few weeks ago, along with the lush garden-park, beloved for its ceremonies because it contrasted so much with the busyness of the city around it. 
Ken Schluchtmann gives us the opportunity to enjoy the vision of this enchanted garden that we hope will be able to withstand the changes taking place around it.

Christiane Bürklein

Nai Lert Park Swissotel
Bangkok, Thailandia
Images: © Ken Schluchtmann – diephotodesigner.de
2017

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