999/84

Residence
Extension and renovation
Bangkok, Thailand
Year: 2012 – 2014 (built)
Client: Private
Total floor area: 700 sqm
Structure: RC, S

bsides’ scope: Architecture \ Interior \ Landscape
Design team: Pornpas Siricururatana, Takumi Saito
Collaborators : Jun Sato (Structure design)
Photography: Ketseree Wongwan

The project is to renovate an existing house for a couple in their 60s with three grown-up daughters as a final home for the couple and as a weekend house for the daughters.

The site situated in an old gated community in the suburb area of Bangkok. The existing house is a 2-storey RC column-beam Reinforced Concrete structure with the brick and mortar wall. The existing steel structure for the roof and plumbing system were in bad condition. The tasks were to expand the overall floor area and to add self-contained rooms (rooms with shower and toilet) for grown-up daughters.

By eliminating most of the brick walls and ceiling, a brighter environment with more connectivities are generated. Each room is connected with garden and outdoor spaces, which allows users to have a direct relation with nature outside so that the garden can become part of their life. Also, we decided to use the low and open fence to challenge the surroundings for more openness within the neighbourhood. (Most of the houses in the area are very closed with a high fence)

The steel structure was selected for the extension part for its lightness since the new structure needs to share some old foundations. Lying from north to south in the west, the steel structure was added for these self-contained rooms while also acting as protection from severe west sunbeam. L-shape semi-outdoor space served as a public space, where laundry, reading and other activities can be done. At the same time, this L-shape space connects the main bedroom+1st floor and other self-contained room. The relationship between spaces is similar to the relationship within the family, each self-sufficing individuals sharing common background, interest and facilities

4-storey steel structure added in the north, extend the middle floor landing of the existing staircase to the fence, generate a new intimate relation between the interior and the garden outside. With a 250mm gap of walls on the south facade, the tower also aimed to act as a vent, letting hot air from the 1st floor out.

Natural ventilation has high priority in the design. Glass usage was kept at a minimum, using only for constant air-conditioned rooms. For others, lighter material such as corrugated polycarbonate sheet, insect screen and existing louvred wooden doors. The existing house has an enormous amount of wooden doors and windows. Almost all were reused in various ways.

The project challenges the conventional series of relations; relations between outside and inside, between family and individuals, between existing and the new. Is it the fragmented past that was inserted into the new house or is it the new elements that were inserted into the old house?