Vana Residence is a ten-unit service apartment building located in Sukhumvit 26, a bustling commercial district of Bangkok. As the site is long and narrow with a programmatic area that requires maximum efficiency, the residence is conceived as a single volume with a compact footprint. To achieve this efficiency whilst also considering the living conditions of the residence, the total required programmatic area was placed within the top five floors, leaving the ground as lobby, leisure and communal areas and parking spaces.
The number of units-per-floor within the building envelope decreases as the height increases; the higher the floor, the lesser number of units. The layout begins with four 2-bedroom units at the lower level, two 3-bedroom units above, and eventually two penthouses on the top two floors that share a private sky courtyard within the middle of the building mass. The land that is on lease towards the end of the site was developed into a small-scale building adjunct to the main Vana Residence to eventually become a clubhouse, fitness and swimming pool to serve the apartments.
As several office towers and private residences are in close proximity to the site, in which the medium-rise residential building adjacent to the east being the most prominent, the core elevators, stairs and building service areas are located along the eastern end to reflect this drawback. This allows the façade to open up on the west end to maximize views, light and natural ventilation for the residents.
The exterior façade of this residential architecture is quite unique in its expression of materiality. Calibrated studies were made to determine the selection of a particular material for a specific orientation, with direction stemming from the owner-appointed consultant’s philosophy of Feng-shui that aims to bring forth good fortune for each cardinal direction. Primarily using the four materials of metal, wood, solid wall and concrete that corresponds to North, South, East and West in that order, its material combination with the architectural massing give this residential apartment building its unique character within its dense urban environment.
