This city home is located in a residential area in Prawet district, Bangkok. It was designed in a relatively limited land area. The form of the land is at the corner of the road which helps making the house on the south and east to be a ventilated areas. But it has the effect of opening up perspectives that neighbors can easily look into as well. Because it is an area with quite dense housing. The building's form must help reduce heat from the sun's rays on the south side, which is on the left side of the land and must be able to create privacy from neighboring buildings that are surrounded by surrounding buildings. So that the home owner's lifestyle is private and meet the owners' requirement of usability as much as possible.
Basic designs are base on the direction of the sunlight. The heat and seasonal wind have an effect on the building are the starting point to be organized the inside function. This unique architectural style was created by the architects created the function that would block the heat from the south to entering the main living space, selecting the kitchen, laundry room and staircases as the areas that receive the natural light and helps to reduce the heat entering to the central resting area of the house as much as possible.
Including, designing the space to be able to be used to the maximum in a limited area and according to the legal principles, resulting in a design to push the wall in some parts as necessary to be able to legally open the light way. Set back from the land's line and makes every function of the house able to receive the natural light and ventilation well.
The building's shape on the south side is influenced by the oblique lines from the angle of the stairs to the second and third floor inside the house. Therefore, the architects designed the angle of the roof to match the angle of the stairs, creating a unique shape of the building from the lines. The slanted wall is sharpened by exposed brick material which is designed to have a façade wall of exposed bricks arranged in a semi-opaque, semi-transparent pattern connecting from the brick wall on the south side, bordering the pool area and the edible garden that the architects have arranged on the ground floor to meet at the front of the house in the east side in order to reduce views from neighbors on both sides and help preventing the heat entering the inside spaces. It completes the building style and meet the owners' requirement to uses bricks as the main material of their home. The architects picked these materials into materials that tell the identity of the owners and choose to use bricks in areas that can best convey the special qualities of the materials both inside and outside the building. In addition to the stairs helping to create the overall shape of the building. They also help protect it like a heat barrier. The interior of the stairwell was designed so that the stairs have solid sections at the entrance to the 2nd floor and chose to use translucent materials at the steps to the 3rd floor to allow natural light from the translucent roof above the stairs shines on the lowest set of stairs. To help keeping this part of the walkway bright during the daytime, greatly reducing energy use during the day.
The inside of the house was designed to be open and airy. The function on the first floor is the living room. The dining area and kitchen are designed so that each function is an open area connected to each other by lowering the floor level. The living room helps to separate the space from each other. The central area of the house, which corresponds to the dining area. There is an open floor on the 2nd floor to create a connection between the spaces on each floor so that they can be connected together, yet in each zone still creates privacy for those who use that area. Because the two homeowners have different lifestyles and hobbies, they therefore need a private corner during the time when they wanted to separate and do their own missions and can connect at the desired time. The top wall on the third floor that corresponds to the central hall and the master bedroom on the west has a horizontal skylight design that makes the central area of the house look like a sundial in the afternoon until just before sunset. Light drives the space to have movement and playfulness that changes from moment to moment. It can be said that this house was designed with a balance in planning for using the land area to suit the building area. Including choosing to both protect and make appropriate use of nature.
MYJ House
Location: Bangkok, Thailand
Area : 300 Sq.m.
Completion: 2019-2021
Architect & Interior Designer: BodinChapa Architects
Photo by : Rungkit Charoenwat
