The Norm Bangkok assessment | Wallpaper*

‘This mission was fairly uncommon,’ says Dario Reicherl, CEO of Asia at Fritz Hansen, of the model’s newest mission within the area: a brand new rooftop bar in Bangkok furnished with greater than 100 Fritz Hansen items. ‘The proprietor, Turk Sitthan, got here in with a really sturdy imaginative and prescient. He has a real ardour for iconic Fritz Hansen designs and was clear that the house must be constructed across the furnishings, not the opposite means round. His considering was easy: the chair is the place friends spend most of their time, so the chair comes first, and the structure follows.’

It was Arne Jacobsen’s ‘Swan’ and ‘Egg’ chairs, particularly, extra usually related to resort lobbies and company interiors, that Sitthan used as his start line.

‘Arne Jacobsen initially designed the “Swan” and “Egg” for public use, for folks to sit down, keep and work together. In a hospitality context, they make much more sense. They provide consolation, privateness and a way of event on the similar time,’ explains Reicherl. ‘In a bar setting, they naturally gradual folks down, invite longer stays, and create an environment the place friends really feel each relaxed and barely elevated. That stability between intimacy and openness is strictly what you need in an area like this.’

Set throughout 1,200 sq m on the forty second flooring of Central Park Places of work within the metropolis’s Silom/Bang Rak district, The Norm inhabits a golden-toned inside by EKAR Architects, designed to encourage friends to linger over leisurely cocktails. On entry, the attention is drawn upwards to the ceiling, the place giant inverted-gable gentle tunnels, created from warm-toned timber, rise overhead.

All through, the bar performs with totally different scales: intimate indoor areas, relaxed sheltered out of doors areas, and open terraces for extra social gatherings – every with its personal cocktail menu designed to reinforce these distinct moods. Variations in peak, enclosure and openness nod to Frank Lloyd Wright’s ideas of compression and launch, and as friends transfer via the inside in direction of the terrace, a dramatic skyline panorama step by step reveals itself.

The palette, Reicherl tells us, was pushed by heat and restraint, with supplies chosen for tactility and their potential to age gracefully. ‘From the outset, Turk Sitthan needed to create a welcoming, intimate temper, and the intensive use of timber was a key a part of that imaginative and prescient,’ he says. ‘Constructing on this, we chosen leather-based colors that may naturally complement the wooden and reinforce that sense of heat, somewhat than distinction in opposition to it. The intention was to reinforce the enduring shapes with out competing with them, utilizing tones that really feel enduring somewhat than trend-led.’

With the bar having formally opened in February 2026, the workforce notes how the furnishings subtly choreographs behaviour, with high-backed chairs just like the ‘Egg’ creating moments of retreat and privateness, whereas extra open seating encourages interplay and motion. ‘The format guides friends with out signage or instruction – folks instinctively perceive the place to linger, the place to assemble, and the place to move via,’ says Reicherl. ‘That is significantly fascinating in a metropolis like Bangkok, which is legendary for rooftop bars which might be largely out of doors, with indoor areas usually designed just for transit. The Norm is sort of totally different. Despite the fact that it sits on the forty second flooring, it was conceived as an interior-led expertise – a spot the place friends are inspired to settle in and keep.’