A shining moment for Thailand’s design scene. HAS Design and Research, the Bangkok- and Shanghai-based studio founded by Jenchieh Hung and Kulthida Songkittipakdee, just scooped up the Winner Award in the Installation/Display category at the 2025 International Architecture Awards. Run by the Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture and Design in partnership with the European Centre for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies, the awards celebrate architectural excellence on a global stage. The installation was created for the 2024 ASA Architect Expo (Association of Siamese Architects under Royal Patronage) as a collaboration between Thai aluminium company S-ONE Group and KIN, with HAS Design and Research serving as the design studio.
The award-winning project, Aluminium Grotto and Public Ground, may have been a temporary installation at the ASA 90th Anniversary Architect Expo in 2024, but its impact has been lasting. Conceived as both a celebration of Thailand’s status as a leading metal exporter and as a free public space for learning, art exchanges and lectures, the pavilion became a hub of creativity and community. Its significance was further recognised when it received the highest honour, Thematic Pavilion of the Year Award, at the Association of Siamese Architects under Royal Patronage Exposition (ASA Architect Expo), organised in collaboration with TTF International Company Limited.
The installation offered far more than shade and spectacle. Elevated above the ground, the structure created a ‘grey space’ beneath an open zone where visitors could gather, learn or simply pause. The design draws inspiration from traditional Thai ‘tai toon’ stilt houses, where hot air is channelled underground and passed through the cool soil, naturally lowering temperatures to create a more comfortable environment above. By reinterpreting this vernacular wisdom in a contemporary setting, HAS Design and Research provided relief from Bangkok’s sweltering climate and celebrated cultural heritage through modern form. The grotto became a living example of how traditional Thai spatial logic can be adapted for today’s urban environments. It was both futuristic and rooted in local heritage.
The Aluminium Grotto and Public Ground is made from hundreds of thousands of aluminium rods, each cut to a different length and assembled by hand. The design creates a valley-like grotto in the middle of the busy expo, offering a calm, flexible space. It nods to traditional Thai architecture and how people once relied on natural landscapes, while also highlighting Bangkok’s shortage of green space: just 6.99 square metres per person, below the WHO standard of nine, which critically underscores the city’s lack of public space.
Now, with the Chicago Athenaeum’s International Architecture Award, the Aluminium Grotto has gained global recognition, standing shoulder to shoulder with acclaimed projects like Hong Kong’s pavilion at the Chengdu International Horticultural Exposition.
