Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha on Thursday laid the foundation stone for a new 2.3-billion-baht army auditorium to be completed in Bangkok's Thewes area in 2019.
The new facility called the Royal Thai Army International Forum will replace the 58-year-old army auditorium in Dusit area. To show off Thai and Western architecture, the new auditorium will have three storeys above ground and one basement with a combined usable area of 62,994 square metres.
On the ground floor there will be an auditorium that can accommodate 500 people, an office, a press conference room and a reception hall. The first floor will include a party room for 500 people and on the second floor there will be another auditorium for 3,000 people and a reception hall. The basement will be a car park for 400 vehicles.
The construction will cost 2.26 billion baht and be completed in three and a half years.
Prime Minister Prayut wanted the new auditorium to also function as an international conference centre, and contain a museum in honour of Her Majesty the Queen within the same compound.
The model of the new museum next to the new army auditorium (photo by Wassana Nanuam)