Hua-Hin Hut Bamboo (1)

A bizarre building to begin with, and not terribly climate-friendly in its tropical Thai surroundings, this old concrete warehouse (and would-be human habitat) was a homely candidate for conversion that turned out to be the basis of a richly variegated and highly functional residential building.

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Hua-Hin Hut before

Mosquito movements are bad, but air flow is good – thus the first and most major step: surrounding the building in a shroud of black mesh, giving new shape to the exterior along curved bamboo supports.

Hua-Hin Hut after

Still, beneath this new sheath much of the original structure was salvageable – strong concrete masonry walls on most sides supporting a corrugated metal roof which were largely able to be left in place and worked around and over.

Hua-Hin Hut translucent wall
Hua-Hin Hut screen walls

Reinforcing and building out from what was already onsite made for a faster, cheaper and richer result at the end of the project.

Hua-Hin Hut storage

Inside the netting, indoor space flows into the outdoors – day-and-night-friendly patio areas made accessible via newly-introduced doors and decoratively-designed windows and frames, keeping the rain at bay but allowing for natural breezes.

Hua-Hin Hut shower ceiling

Behind common areas are bathrooms and bedroom space for (optionally) more closed-off with solid walls for privacy or sleep.

The playfully-titled Hua-Hin Hut by equally-irreverent Sea Monkey Coconut (images by Wachirasak Maneewatanaperk) responds to regional environmental and human-comfort needs in balance with an eye toward the contemporary, simple and classically modern use of planes, lines and asymmetrical design elements.

Hua-Hin Hut wooden doors

“For us, this renovation project was not just to make the building looks better but to find a possibility of enhancing the relationship between existing spaces, in and out. The change of use has a big impact on all elements that define spaces. Hua Hin Hut is a conversion of a small warehouse in Hua Hin, Thailand to be a house. The idea is to setting up the dwelling unit on the site where the dweller can live, work, growing food in order to reduce a traveling distance in everyday life.”