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Architecture firm MVRDV has blanketed the square outside Bangkok's city hall with a woven floor mat made from recycled rice bags, inviting residents to sit, congregate and consider Thailand's plastic pollution crisis.
Taking over Lan Khon Mueang town square for the duration of Bangkok Design Week (BKKDW), Mega Mat is both an informal seating area and a giant infographic, using Thailand's own recycled plastic waste to communicate data about how the country currently deals with its waste.
The demountable installation is made from 532 individual sua mats – traditional woven floor mats that provide places to sit and rest in many Thai homes. Joined together, they form one "supersized sua for the whole city", MVRDV explained.
In this case, the ubiquitous household item was made from discarded plastic rice bags that were sourced, recycled and woven into traditional Thai textile patterns by local company Rukchart Mats.
"Around the world, people are understanding the need to think more about the objects they use, and to see products as part of a connected ecological web," said MVRDV founder Winy Maas. "In Thailand, this conversation is already well underway."
"With our design of the Mega Mat, we also wanted to celebrate it as an opportunity, to see the possibilities that are created by putting an emphasis on recycled materials. In a city dominated by concrete, this mat creates a soft space where you can take off your shoes, sit, lie down, read, and play."
The mats are arranged into concentric bands of colour to create what MVRDV calls an "860-square-metre infographic", visualising data about how Thailand deals with the two million tonnes of plastic waste it produces every year.
"The issue has become a hot topic nationwide as industries and the government have introduced policies and frameworks to reduce the consumption of plastic and increase the percentage of waste that is recycled," the studio said.
The small green rectangles in the centre of the Mega Mat show the amount of plastic that is currently recycled, while the surrounding yellow ring denotes the amount of waste that goes uncollected.
The progressively larger and darker bands around the outside reflect how much waste ends up in landfills, with orange denoting "sanitary" landfills while red represents the majority of waste ending up in unsanitary landfills, with no barriers to prevent ground pollution.
One corner of the Mega Mat is propped up to create a small sheltered area, housing an exhibition about plastic waste and recycling in Thailand.
Both the installation's colour palette and the sweeping overhang were designed to mirror the roof of the nearby Wat Suthat Thepwararam temple, which towers over Lan Khon Mueang town square.
To ensure the woven plastic doesn't once again end up as waste when the temporary installation comes to an end, Mega Mat was designed to be demounted into separate mats that will be donated to local temples, used for yoga or upcycled into products like handbags.
Elsewhere at BKKDW, MVRDV is hosting a participatory artificial intelligence (AI) project to reimagine the forgotten space under the city's Sirat Expressway at Surawong Road.
"We're inspired by the energy of BKKDW and Thailand's thriving creative industry," MVRDV's senior project leader Sredej Bunnag told Dezeen.
"With the capital not just recognised as a UNESCO Creative City of Design but the industry itself making up around nine per cent of the country's GDP, we feel we could make a valuable contribution."
Other recent projects from MVRDV, include a pixelated housing block in Abu Dhabi and a Shenzhen skyscraper transformed into a colourful women's and children's centre.
Bangkok Design Week 2025 takes place at various locations around the city from 8 to 23 February. See Dezeen Events Guide for an up-to-date list of architecture and design events taking place around the world.
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https://www.dezeen.com/2025/02/19/mvrdv-mega-mat-bangkok/
