In 2011, LAB was part of a collaborative effort that won first place in an open design competition for development of a very prominent and important site in the heart of old Bangkok: Rattanakosin Island. The contest, called Lan Chaloem Phrakiat, to honour His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej, was organized by The Association of Siamese Architects under Royal Patronage and the Office of the National Economic and Social Development Board. LAB collaborated with Patchara + Ornnicha Architects (POAR) on this project, which called for a landmark building for a museum and learning center. We worked as co-planners and landscape architects, submitting a design for a building with 18,000-square-metres of floor space on a site covering about 9,000 sq m. We called it Lan Pandin. We adopted a literal approach to the Thai word Lan, which means plaza in English. Our aim was to maximize open space. Despite the building’s floor space, it covers only 40 per cent of the site. Functional services were placed underground, allowing for a very open visual link between the main building and the Royal Ground, Sanam Luang. Since we placed so many activities underground, we created a physical passage from the ground down to basement two. This passage created an opportunity to provide outdoor learning spaces and a place to simply ‘hang out’ under shady trees with soothing sounds from water features. Rainwater is to be collected in a reserve tank and used for water features throughout the site. Photovoltaic cells will be installed on louvers on the main building to generate electricity for the landscape features.