Bangkok’s Siam Discovery shopping centre has been named the best designed store in the world.

Owner Siam Piwat took the top honour at the World Retail Awards held during the World Retail Congress. The centre beat stores from major brand names and countries, including Adidas and L’Occitane in New York, Diesel in Milan, Art Walk Mall in China, Magrabi in Dubai, Missguided in London and Magmode and Liu Kai in the Hangzhou Kerry Center. Siam Discovery was the only winner from Asia in any category of this year’s World Retail Awards.

The Siam Discovery design was created by a team of experts led by Oki Sato of Nendo in Japan and Urban Architect.

Formally named Siam Discovery – The Exploratorium, the centre is described by Siam Piwat as Thailand’s first “hybrid-retail destination and lifestyle specialty store”. It opened in May 2016 and had already won Best Retail Development and Best Commercial Development in last year’s Thailand Property Awards. The destination was designed and constructed in similar fashion to a department store, rather than following a traditional mall model.

“Siam Discovery has broken every rule of Thailand’s retail industry to offer exciting experiences and creativity,” Siam Piwat CEO Chadatip Chutrakul said at the time of the Thai accolades.

She said the concept permeates “every single design detail” across more than 40,000 sqm, including open space.

“Even the product displays and stores of more than 5000 brands are decorated to match the personalities of each specific Lifestyle Lab on each floor. This gives our customers the freedom to browse for products that suit their stories and interests, and make shopping both convenient and a fun exploration.”