The building's name is a quiet boast. "Mahanakhon" comes from Bangkok's ceremonial name and means "great city" -- a fragment of the capital's full title, which at 168 letters is the longest place name in the world. Originally developed by PACE Development Corporation under the name MahaNakhon, the tower changed hands in April 2018 when King Power Group -- the Thai duty-free conglomerate -- purchased it from PACE CEO Sorapoj Techakraisri. The name became King Power Mahanakhon, grafting corporate identity onto civic symbolism. The project's journey had been long before that sale. Groundbreaking took place on 20 June 2011, the tower topped off in April 2015, and the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat certified it as complete in 2016. The total project cost reached 21 billion baht -- roughly US$620 million.

Scheeren, a former partner at Rem Koolhaas's Office for Metropolitan Architecture, assembled an international team for the project. David Collins Studio in London handled interior design, while Thai firm Industrial Buildings Corporation served as co-developer until PACE bought out its shares in 2015. The tower's pixelated ribbon is not merely decorative. Where blocks appear to be missing, the building recedes to create outdoor terraces -- private sky gardens for the 209 Ritz-Carlton-serviced residences that occupy the upper floors. Prices for those residences ranged from 42 to 500 million baht, with the penthouse -- a two-floor, 1,500-square-meter residence -- selling in January 2013 for 480 million baht, the highest price ever asked for a Thai condominium at the time. At the base, the smaller CUBE building houses retail space, while the rooftop SkyWalk observation deck on the 78th floor features a glass tray that extends over the building's edge.

The tower's commercial history reflects the volatility of Bangkok's luxury real estate market. PACE initially sold units on a leasehold basis, then switched to freehold in March 2014, raising prices in the process. The company marketed the building overseas -- in Hong Kong, Singapore, and the Middle East -- becoming the first Thai developer to sell Thai property in the Gulf states. Awards accumulated: Best Luxury Condo Development 2014 from the Thailand Property Awards, Best Thailand Development 2014 from the Southeast Asia Property Awards, and three Asia-Pacific Property Awards in 2015. But financial pressures mounted. When King Power Group acquired the property in 2018, all retail tenants were closed pending redevelopment, including what had been Thailand's first restaurants by Joel Robuchon and Masaharu Morimoto. The building entered a new chapter under its new owners, the retail empire best known for Thailand's airport duty-free shops.

Today, the building's most public face is its rooftop. The King Power Mahanakhon SkyWalk draws visitors to the 78th floor, where an outdoor glass deck offers a vertigo-inducing view straight down through the floor to the streets of Silom far below. Connected to the BTS Skytrain at Chong Nonsi station via MahaNakhon Square, the tower sits at the nexus of Bangkok's modern transit system. The Standard Hotel occupies 155 rooms in the building, adding a boutique hospitality brand to the mix of luxury residences and observation deck. From the ground, the pixelated facade reads differently depending on the light -- at sunset, the missing blocks catch golden tones while the glass walls go dark; at night, the lit apartments create an irregular constellation climbing the Silom skyline. The building that looked like a glitch has become the landmark.