The Araksa tea garden is one of the oldest in Thailand, covering 111 acres. In 1941, the estate planted around 50 acres of Assam tea plants, which were left untouched for 15 years. Today, they produce some of the finest organic tea in the country.
Following the completion of the original Araksa Tea House in 2018, the estate's reputation as a prime tourist destination grew rapidly. As visitor numbers increased, the existing facilities became too small to accommodate them.
In late 2023, Simple Architecture and thirteenthree were commissioned to design a new tea boutique that could welcome more visitors and display a wider range of the estate's products. The new building includes a spacious tea shop, a tasting and meeting room, storage, and a new office for the factory manager.
The walls are built from earthen bricks produced on-site using local soil. For the final wall coating, the team applied a lime mix from the Thai province of Uttaradit, a material successfully tested during the construction of the original Araksa Tea House. A green roof is supported by a new steel structure. All external wooden facade elements, entrance doors, and windows were locally crafted using recycled timber.
Architecture studio thirteenthree worked alongside Simple Architecture from the project’s inception, designing the interior in parallel with the building. The interior design draws its primary inspiration from the woven, split-bamboo tea harvesting baskets used on the estate. This woven construction became the organising principle for the joinery. Timber pieces weave and overlap to form rigid frames, making the construction method visible - you can clearly see how the wood was joined together. Counters, display tables, shelving, and cabinetry all share this system: solid timber components that interlock, allowing for easy assembly, disassembly, and future reconfiguration.
All timber was sourced from trees felled on the Araksa site, and fabrication was carried out by local craftspeople in Chiang Mai. This approach ensures the materials, craftsmanship, and location are directly tied together.
Simple Architecture’s floor plan provided a clear structure. Where structural posts created niches in the walls, thirteenthree integrated the joinery directly into them. Slender timber layers form screens that hold display shelves. A large island counter sits in the center of the tea-tasting area. It functions like a practical workshop, concealing preparation equipment while letting visitors watch the process. Retail display tables are laid out to allow people to move easily through the space, alongside a dedicated jewellery display. In the adjacent workshop room, a large center table interprets the basket-weave concept on a bigger scale.
The heavy earthen walls contrast with the lighter timber joinery, keeping the focus on the tea, the wood, and the surrounding garden. Opened in late 2024, the boutique serves as the final stop on the journey through the Araksa tea garden, creating a welcoming space where visitors can comfortably spend time.
