Rooms at the very top

A TWO RAI plot of land on a prime location next to the residence of the US ambassador on Wireless Road will soon become the most prized condominium block in Bangkok. The Sansiri luxury residential project called 98 Wireless, which is slated for completion by this year, is expected to be the most expensive in Southeast Asia.

The luxury jacuzzi room is fitted out in Carrara marble from Italy.

The Bt8.5 billion project is a 25-storey building consisting of 77 apartments from two-bedroom units to the penthouse and the one-and-only super duplex aptly named The One on the building’s top two levels. The average selling price is Bt550,000 per square metre – that’s a starting price of Bt66 million – while the cost of The One, which is spread over 1,000 square metres climbs up to about Bt600 million.
The building draws inspiration from classical European Beaux-Arts style embracing traditional craftsmanship and artisanal integrity. Marble is being extensively used in both the architecture and interior design. The design team was led by the internationally recognised home-grown architecture firm DWP. Bangkok-based landscape architecture studio TROP Terrain + Open Space designed the formal gardens and outdoor living spaces.

To provide harmonious living for high-end customers, everything from the building materials to the interior decorations and from the facilities to the amenities are carefully hand picked to ensure the highest quality. These include the solid white-oak herringbone floors and rare mahogany crotch wood door panels imported from the US, as well as facades made of Portuguese Moleanos Limestone, which have undergone accelerated weathering tests prior to installation. 

 A show unit of the twobedroom apartment of the 98 Wireless residential project is fully styled with Ralph Lauren Home furnishings.
The master bathrooms are clad in marble selected from the best slabs of Statuario Marble from a marble quarry in Carrara, about 100km northeast of Rome. Appliances and hardware brands include the bathtub by Kallista, sanitary ware by Lefroy Brooks, kitchen cabinets and appliances by SieMatic and Gaggenau, and refrigerators and wine cabinets by SubZero.The communal interiors including the grand reception area, a tea salon and a business lounge designed by New York-based interior designer Anne Carson and styled with Ralph Lauren Home furnishings.

The crystal chandelier in the lobby is also exclusively hand-made by Ralph Lauren Home and took a year to complete. The bespoke sculptural staircase is fitted with solid iron balusters and brass handrails.
Carson worked with Ralph Lauren for many years before opening her own design company, Anne Carson Interiors, and has been working on the interior concept for 98 Wireless with Sansiri since 2012.

“The interior design takes cues from Beaux-Arts, the prominent style of New York from the 1880s to 1920s, which has classical detailing to create a space of sumptuous grandeur such as large arch windows, a beautiful facade and grand staircase. The facade of 98 Wireless is beautifully crafted in limestone, which is a unique character of Beaux-Arts.
“However, we don’t overdo it but try to make a nice balance of classic architecture that fits with the Bangkok skyline. It is without many of the heavily carved stone embellishments, with more streamlined and clean lines to the facade. It’s today’s version of classic style,” Carsons says of her first project in Asia.
Beaux-Arts design emphasises the balance of all elements. The plans are often symmetric, with the first floor elevated and a large staircase leading up to it, along with the intricate decoration. Columns, friezes, doors, curved windows and balconies are all decorated with sculptures, helping to soften the lines. Among the recognised buildings in the US that employed this style are the Library of Congress, Thomas Jefferson Building and New York Public Library. 

 Interior designer Anne Carson, left, and Sansiri’s CEO Apichart Chutrakul

The plaster mouldings for the entire central areas of the project are traditionally hand crafted by the New York-based Hyde Park Mouldings. Everything is done in-house only, from designing, mould-making, scale-model making, the carving, the sculpture and the casting. The material used for moulding is gypsum-based plaster, which is different from Portland cement or lime-based plaster.
Carson also sets up three show units fully decorated with Ralph Lauren Home furnishings in different styles to give customers a visual image of their new home. 
“The Modern Hollywood on the seventh floor is done in mahogany and art deco style. Another two-bedroom unit called Apartment No 1 is set up in white and modern style and furnished with Ralph Lauren Home’s Modern Equestrian collection that may appeal to young couples. Le Grand Hotel is the three-bedroom unit with lot of outdoor space and done in iconic blue and white that should fit a young family,” says Carson.
“Hand-picked antiques from the US and London are integrated to mix old and new.”