Set within a large hall designed for people and activities, SAMA Pavilion acts as a central gathering space that accommodates a wide range of uses. Designed by Bangkok-based architecture studio pbm, the pavilion began with the idea of viewing landscape through an architectural lens.
The design team extended the flowing lines of the landscape from the ground plane into rhythmic, alternating steps that serve as seating, play areas, and exhibition spaces. Each square meter is intended to make the space a medium for meeting and exchange.
The pbm architectural team adopted the octagonal form — an element of the original landscape design — and reinterpreted it as the pavilion’s primary structural language. This approach transforms the structure into a vibrant and dynamic living form.
SAMA Pavilion functions as more than a small architectural insertion within a large hall. It creates a central space for gathering, connection, and flexible use, bringing landscape references into the architectural design.
Materials and performance
Materials were selected to balance durability, weight, and user comfort. Engineered timber introduces warmth while reducing embodied carbon compared to more carbon-intensive structural materials.
Glass provides daylight and visual transparency, while lightweight polycarbonate panels contribute to material efficiency and flexibility. Mineral wool insulation improves acoustic performance, low-VOC coatings support indoor air quality, and energy-efficient LED lighting reduces operational energy demand.
The pavilion’s environmental strategy is based on minimizing new construction through adaptive reuse, reducing structural material intensity, and extending the lifespan of both the existing building and the pavilion itself.
The combination of modular construction, design for disassembly, and flexible programming supports circular economy principles by allowing components and spaces to remain useful as future requirements evolve.
Modular construction
The pavilion adopts an octagonal geometry derived from the original landscape concept, using it as both an organizational and structural system. The regular geometry allows the space to be reconfigured over time while supporting different event layouts and user groups.
Sustainability is supported through a lightweight modular construction approach. Prefabricated components minimize intervention to the existing building while reducing material use.
The pavilion was designed for assembly and disassembly, allowing elements to be relocated, reused, or reconfigured for future exhibitions instead of being demolished after a single installation. Mechanical fixing methods further support disassembly, reducing waste and extending the useful life of building components.
Adaptive reuse as the foundation
SAMA Pavilion transforms an underutilized exhibition hall at BITEC into a flexible public environment that supports exhibitions, learning, recreation, and community events. Rather than constructing a new standalone building, the project works within the existing venue, extending the usefulness of its structure and services while avoiding the environmental impacts associated with new foundations, structural systems, and building envelopes.
The pavilion introduces a landscape-inspired intervention that organizes activity through a continuous sequence of stepped platforms. These topographic forms accommodate seating, play, exhibitions, and circulation within a single spatial framework, allowing the space to adapt to different programs without requiring permanent alterations. Landscape and architecture are conceived together, enabling multiple uses while preserving openness and flexibility.
The selected materials support the pavilion’s flexible use: wood introduces warmth, glass brings in light and views, and polycarbonate panels provide lightness and translucency. Lighting is integrated along the architectural lines, emphasizing the pavilion’s geometry and supporting its use by day and night.
Architecture as a Social Landscape
SAMA Pavilion demonstrates how a relatively compact architectural intervention can transform the experience of a much larger existing environment.
Its significance lies not in creating an isolated object inside the hall, but in creating a landscape that people can inhabit.
Architecture becomes seating, circulation becomes exploration, landscape becomes gathering space, and a previously underutilized hall becomes a place for shared experience.
Permanent in its presence yet adaptable in its use, SAMA Pavilion is designed not simply to be seen, but to be explored, occupied and continuously brought to life by people.
