Bangkok isn’t a quiet city, but the rooftop of the Park Hyatt, an embassy-district oasis surrounded by skyscrapers, may be the most peaceable spot in the whole of the capitalThe Park Hyatt, newly opened on the edge of Bangkok’s embassy district, occupies the upper floors of a mirror-clad structure, designed by London-based AL_A, that curls up and around like a snake uncoiling upwards, reaching a distinctive ski-jump point which looks as impressive from half the city away as it does from immediately below.

The hotel interiors, by New York’s Yabu and Pushelberg, are equally impressive. Rooms are extremely bright and spacious; The boundary between the room’s entryway (with desk on one side and dressing room to the other) is demarcated by glass screens etched with images of Thai temples; clever layout means that you can gaze through these and out the windows, to make a kind of palimpsest superimposing temples and skyscrapers. 

Dining options include the Penthouse Bar & Grill – a smart, nightclubby space on three floors with many private seating options and a spectacular metallic roof – and, better for lunchtimes, the brighter, airier Embassy Room. Here anala carte menu – with main courses including grilled octopus, miso black cod, and New Zealand lamb shank – is complemented by an extensive buffet of starters and desserts from the Pantry nearby. 

The roof deck is angled to be in full sun all day, and there are plenty of parasols for the sunfearing; the trees that rise from planters in the shallow end of the infinity pool are placed in such a way that the sun sets before it can be obscured in their branches. From the edge of the pool there’s a view onto the gardens of the former British Embassy, with colonial-era buildings visible among the trees, and the skyscrapers that this hotel dwarfs. 

The high atrium ceiling of the Living Room is hung with an artwork by Hirotoshi Sawada, a gorgeous snaking slalom of fine black rods, something like the lighter-than-air fossilised remains of a vast prehistoric creature, that breaks up the straight lines of the space without affecting its brightness. Another artwork by Sawada hangs in the negative space at the centre of the grand staircase: Pagoda Mirage is a constellation of innumerable hanging whorls of gold shaped like the caps of mushrooms.