Siam Square


Siam Square is a shopping and entertainment area in the Siam area of Bangkok, Thailand. The square is located at the corner of Phayathai Road and Rama 1 Road and is owned by Chulalongkorn University, managed by its Property Management Office, known as "Chula Property". The place is connected and link to other shopping centers and shopping districts by a skywalk or sky bridge, such as Siam Center, Siam Discovery, MBK Center, Siam Square One, Siam Paragon, Ratchaprasong shopping district, and Sukhumvit Road.
In Siam Square, there are many shops and services, including many Thai businesses, tutor schools, restaurants, cafes, fashion, art, design, and many new emerging businesses. The customers vary from young-aged school and college students to office workers and foreign tourists. Siam Square can be equivalent to the 1:10 part of Bangkok that combines the diverse needs of people altogether. This area is one of Thailand's long history places that have and create many memories, notable events, and also stories. Which connect and related to popular and interesting subjects like Chulalongkorn University and Seacon Development Co., also some powerful people at that time like Kobchai Sosothikul . It is one of the most changing areas in Bangkok, which made it a fascinating place to visit.

History

The area of Siam Square, which belongs to Chulalongkorn University was full of wooden houses and slum areas. Until there was a fire incident, it causes the villagers to evacuated from the area. After the fire, General Prapas Charusatien director of Chulalongkorn University at that time, decide to develop the area of Siam Square, to be a trading/ market place to prevent the slum community that originally resided returning.Southeast Asia Company is the first to develop this area as an open-air shopping mall. Then the first building was constructed in 1962 and finish in 1963.

[Architect]

Associate Professor Lert Urasayanan
A former student at Debsirin School. Arts and entertainment: visual arts, Professor at Chulalongkorn University's Faculty of Architecture.

[Engineer]

Professor Dr. Rachot Kanchanawanit
A former student at Debsirin School. Medical and Legal Sciences: Agricultural Science, Engineering. Master in Civil Engineering and President of the Engineering Institute.
Later in 1991, Siam Square has started to have various tutoring schools in the area, which is the result of being near several schools. The first name was Pathumwan Square because it is in the Pathumwan area. However, Kobchai Sosothikul, the owner of the project at that time, thought that the name "Pathumwan Square" was too small because it was just the name of the sub-district. So the square was as renamed as Siam Square to match his determination. In 1996, the Thai economy was in a state of recession from the debt of the IMF. Besides, there was a construction of the BTS SkyTrain at that time, which caused traffic jams and the difficulty in traveling that caused people and costumer to went to other department stores.Then, in 1998, they started "The center point of Siam square" project. Later in 1999 to 2000, Chulalongkorn University finds a way to regain Siam Square's original popularity by improved the area. Which includes relocated the parking lot behind the Lido cinema to the Witthayakit Building and allowed the outside companies to invest in developing the 'Center Point' area, which then makes the area a public space.

The Present

The place is maintained by the University Property Management Office of Chulalongkorn University. Siam Square area can be equivalent to the 1:10 part of Bangkok that combines the diverse needs of people altogether. And it's one of the most changing areas in Bangkok that has more than 4,200 shops in many styles and also many other types of services including many successful Thai businesses, tutor schools, restaurants, cafes, fashion, art, design, and many new emerging businesses.
The customers here are varied, although most are students and college students. Because, tutor school gathers here the most, at least 30 schools are here. Siam Square is now the number one tutorial center in the country.

Location

The area is located at the corner of Phayathai Road and Rama 1 road prominently in front of Siam BTS Skytrain station, which can be considered as the center of Bangkok.

Transportation

The transportation that can reach Siam Square is various. These are some of the outstanding ones
[BTS Skytrain]
Beginning at National Stadium BTS station pass by Siam BTS station and connecting to Chit Lom BTS station.
Siam Square is connected to many places by skywalk, all of these places can be reach by skywalk.
Siam Square is a composite of many different entertainment options. From Cinemas, bowling alleys to aquarium and museum. This area has it all, due to the advantage of being connected to many other popular places that can easily be reached with a skywalk. Siam Square is like the center of shopping and entertainment in Thailand.
These are some of the most popular attractions.

[[Scala Cinema (Bangkok)|Apex Scala Theatre]]

The movie theater that is frozen in time. Scala provides a vintage movie experience. A rarity in Thailand, one of the last movie theatres from times gone by still standing.

SEA LIFE Bangkok Ocean World">Sea Life Bangkok Ocean World">SEA LIFE Bangkok Ocean World (Siam Paragon)

One of the largest aquariums in Southeast Asia. With the size of 3 Olympic pools and over 30,000 marine animals from across the world.

[Pathum Wanaram Temple]

The temple was built by King Rama IV in 1857 as a place of worship. This place is a rare example of ancient craftsmanship featuring ornate stencils and lacquered sculptures.

https://www.madametussauds.com/bangkok/en/ Madame Tussauds (Siam Discovery Center)

A wax museum with 10 exhibit rooms of lifelike wax figures. All in real-life themes, this made the museum feels more like a journey in time.

[Bangkok [Art and Culture Centre]] (BACC)

An art center with the widest range of contemporary art, design, music, theatre, and film in Bangkok. It regularly hosts changing exhibitions from both Thai and International artists.

Visitors

The customers or visitors vary from young-aged school and college students to office workers and foreign tourists. Siam Square is quite a popular place in Thailand. In fact, there is at least 400,000 person traveling to and through Siam Square because this place is the main traffic route connection point.

Cinemas

A 1970s-era single-screen cinema called the Siam, along with its surrounding arcades, burnt down during the 2010 Thai military crackdown and the site is now replaced with Siam Square One Shopping Center.