After 17 years, ‘design center’ and coworking library to close at Emporium

Photo: AIS D.C.
Photo: AIS D.C.

Remote workers, digital nomads, freelancers, and students will have to look elsewhere for coworking spaces after AIS D.C. shuts its doors Sunday.

Opened nearly two decades ago as a library and work space, what had been the Thailand Creative & Design Center was taken over by telecom giant AIS five years ago. On Sunday, the final meetings will be held and cups of brew served atop the Emporium shopping mall.

AIS said it was due to the end of its contract with TCDC, aka the Thailand Creative & Design Center, which in 2017 relocated to a historic post office building in Charoen Krung.

“Due to the termination of the contract of the learning center establishment project between Advanced Wireless Network Company Limited and TCDC, the service of AIS D.C. will be available only until Sunday,” AIS D.C. announced in a statement.

Someone answering the phone Thursday morning said that the space would be repurposed for other mall uses, citing “changes in policies and new management.”

People with memberships can continue using them at TCDC’s two Bangkok branches: TCDC Bangkok, located at the Grand Postal Building in Bang Rak, and TCDC Commons Seacon Square. There are also branches in Chiang Mai and Khon Kaen.

Should visitors find that inconvenient, they can request a refund.

AIS D.C. provided visitors access to over 10,000 magazines and ebooks from around the world, as well as meeting rooms with high-speed internet, and a production studio to rent. It opened as the Thailand Creative & Design Center in 2005 under the Office of Knowledge Management and Development established by former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.

Related
TCDC reopens at Grand Postal Building in Old Town



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