With the help of their team, Lead Design Partners José Cláudio Silva and Peter Barrett effectively created that image with the curved, double-paned glass superstructure. And thanks to lower semi-circular tiers, the profile of the resort also closely resembles the silhouette of a luxury yacht.

Located in the Bai Trao District on the northwest edge of Hon Thom Island, the resort will be owned and operated by the Sun Group. Its “integrated resort and hospitality” features will spread along 50 acres of the tropical archipelago, picturesquely nestled between coastal beaches and lush mountain jungles.

The resort’s visual beacon, the tower sail will house luxury suites across the curvature of its double-skin glass facade, giving guests premium views of both the watery horizon and the forested hillside slopes. Visitors can also enjoy a ship deck-shaped viewing area and native gardens on lower floors, connecting the fluid sailing vibe of the tower to the resort’s main levels.

Guests will be able to access the resort through multiple travel methods: there are dozens of private and VIP marinas, a public jetty, a helipad, and a cable car route connecting the island to the larger neighboring island of Phu Quoc.

The greater resort will include luxury hotels, townhouses, beachside and clifftop residential villas, as well as beach clubs and water sports, all with stunning panoramas of the Gulf of Thailand. A host of infinity pools, gardens, linear parks, and coastal promenades helps to “blur the boundary between nature and architecture.” Public spaces, pool decks, and retail stores will be covered in rustic shingled roofs, exposed woodwork, and natural stone to further obscure the line between the natural and the manmade. At its northernmost end, a Fisherman’s wharf will support retail shops and walkways, designed into glass volumes attached to stone blocks made to look like they are rising out of the sea.

10 Design is an internationally renowned studio with offices in Hong Kong, Shanghai, Edinburgh, Dubai, Miami, London, Shenzhen, and Singapore. Since its founding in 2010, the company has completed masterplanning, landscaping, and interior work in over 60 cities across four continents, winning more than 80 awards and major design competitions in the process.

The firm is particularly proud of this latest design as it marks “an important milestone” and the “first major project completed by our 10 Design Singapore studio,” explains Barry Shapiro, the group’s Managing Partner in Asia. “We are excited to complete the masterplan and concept design for Hon Thom Island, which will serve as one of the beachside jewels of the local Phu Quoc region as well as the world-class waterfront hospitality and lifestyle destination.

The post Thailand’s Latest Resort Looks Like the Billowing Sails of a Luxury Ship first appeared on Dornob.

“Kha-nam refers to the typology of small resting shelters found during the agricultural season in Thailand,” the firm explains. “They’re built using basic construction methods, with local and easily sourced materials.”

As in most vernacular architecture around the world, form follows function in Thai agricultural buildings. They often feature stilts to protect the interiors from floodwaters and large, steeply sloping roofs to provide shelter from the sun and shed rain efficiently. The long, continuous roof of the original pigsty features a traditional overlapped design wherein a secondary roof panel hovers above a vented opening in the lower roof panel. This gives the spaces directly below the vents natural light and air flow.

YangNar Studio arranged the living room, kitchen, and bedroom beneath the vents to take advantage of these features, while the north side of the building hosts a terrace corridor between a workshop and a plant nursery. The family that commissioned this unique adaptive reuse project wanted to create a self-sufficient estate where they could raise plants and train dogs, so the garden has a large area for both purposes.

When choosing materials for the home, the architects retained much of the concrete, steel, and wood from the original pigsty for inclusion in the design, rearranging it for new purposes. Beneath the old roof, the living spaces are elevated, gazing at each other through large windows across a shared outdoor space.

“The materials of this house [have a] way of arranging old into new use with respect to a trace of time,” say the architects. “We can see a lot of buildings’ traces of old material clearly, but architects keep that with an understanding of language to keep this blend in the transition of living. Some parts of the house such as the kitchen’s wall used authentic wooden craftsmanship like ‘Fha-Lai,’ a flexible sliding wall from the northern part of Thailand, to consider an alternative way of ventilation. This authentic construction method is hard to find nowadays.”

“This might look like a simple wooden house found [commonly] in this region, but for us, this house is an architecture that was not made for the aesthetic of living only but was designed from an understanding of the practitioner’s view in forming construction methods to blend old and new things to get a special architectural experience for the owner,” say the architects.

The result feels airy and full of character; particular to this area of the world and its customs and traditions. The texture of the old corrugated roof contrasts beautifully with the new glass and refinished wood, and the covered swimming pool terrace is a tropical dream. You’d certainly never call this recycled home a pigsty now, would you?

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When approached to design a vacation rental in the rural Nakhon Nayok area two hours outside of Bangkok, architect Tung Jai Ork Baab had to get creative to work around the narrow village roads, which make it difficult for large construction vehicles to get through. On top of that, the region is plagued by a lack of skilled contractors and construction workers. For both of these reasons, utilizing a prefabricated structure seemed like the easiest and safest choice. Thus, the idea of the “Container Cabin” was born.

Since the project would be located in the low and marshy land of an empty rice paddy, Tung Jai Ork Baab started by having a small reservoir dug out, using the dirt to fashion enough high ground for a house and accompanying orchards. With the ferocity of Thailand’s rainy season, being built on a raised berm was essential for protection against potential flooding.

Employing the notion of an all-weather, indoor-outdoor space, the architect connected two 20-foot shipping containers to craft the main common room, adding full floor-to-ceiling windows on the ends to let in plenty of light, with the original loading doors providing shelter during storms.

An open-air courtyard connects the living room to the dining and pantry space, housed by yet another container. That gateway deck, with a second-story shipping container forming the roof, is intended to be the home’s main gathering space, thanks to the perpetually warm weather in the area. Chairs and cushions are scattered throughout the courtyard for lounging in the tropical temperatures, with a tire swing suspended from the ceiling for the enjoyment of little vacationers.

The top floor container comprises a private bedroom, with the tall A-frame creating balconies and alfresco lounge areas all around the sleeping quarters. The shape of the cabin was intentional: the sloped rooflines shade the entire residence, avoiding the problem of heat transfer to the metal containers. One section of the roof was replaced with a translucent material to let natural light into the middle deck. Steel plate louvers are built into the frame to deflect frequent rains but still allow light and wind to flow through the entire space for ventilation.

An outdoor cooking area bridges the gap between the A-frame and a detached container bedroom. That room connects to an above-ground pool encased in a deck space that seriously bumps up the rural getaway’s recreation game. And since the vacation home was designed with traveling families in mind, the front of the property also features a wooden playground and sandbox structure.

The interior spaces throughout were painted a fresh white for a clean and airy feel. The exterior got an earthy brown treatment, helping it to blend in with the natural environment.

This Container Cabin is a beautiful addition to the resourceful (sometimes questionable) architectural trend of using cheap and readily available shipping containers as housing accommodations when circumstances allow.

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With a mind toward producing less waste while also creating new, useful, and beautiful things, repurposing has become an important part of how those in both fashion and design have come to reevaluate their respective industries.

Awards like the Design Prize recognize such efforts through their “Social Impact” category. Since 2017, this annual award has helped shine a spotlight on extraordinary design achievements that make an impact through thoughtful and eco-conscious projects.

This year, the Design Prize 2021 for social impact was awarded to Bangkok Project Studio, a Thailand-based firm led by Boonserm Premthada. Primarily based in Thailand, Bangkok Project Studio is known for their outstanding nuanced designs that often underscore the importance of nature. Past projects include an elephant museum made of upcycled bricks (themselves created from elephant dung), “The Walk,” an elevated walkway meant to highlight the importance of the often-overlooked natural world beneath our feet, and an observation tower at “Elephant World” in Thailand.

The latest project, and the winner of this year’s social impact Design Prize, is yet another feather in the cap of the Thai firm, this one in the form of a nine-meter rice tower. While this in itself may not sound very exciting, there are several things about the project that stand out and make it award-worthy. Located in a zoo in the country’s northeastern city of Nakhon Ratchasima, the imposing nine-meter tall rice tower was constructed through the intentional repurposing of five timber barns that were set to be demolished. The firm, led by Premthada, took apart the existing barns and reassembled them into something new, with an “[aim to] give new architectural language to the word ‘barn’ or ‘rice storage’ commonly found and used after the harvest season,” according to designboom.

This rethinking and reimagining of existing structures or objects has always been an important consideration for the firm, who often aims to merge their structures with their natural surroundings and connect them in some way. Here, the rice tower was created using the wood from the deserted barns, maintaining the overall essence of the their original purpose. Rising up from the ground in a new and exciting form “connecting the ground and the sky,” the tower is a testament to the importance of rice in Thailand, specifically in this northeastern region, which produces the best quality rice in the largest quantities. The repurposed wooden spire is also a monument to rice farmers, who nurture, grow, and harvest the crop while acting as its caregivers.

Through a mindful repurposing of dilapidated rural barns, Bangkok Project Studio “was inspired to give new language to the wooden barn,” creating a structure that’s multipurpose in both its messaging and practical uses. Serving as a playground for children by day and a habitat for local birds and animals at night, the structure is truly meant to be welcoming to all. Now, one of the area’s most signature features has become something new and impressive that’s not only symbolic, but symbiotic, working in tandem with its natural surroundings to create something beautiful and useful.

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Created by Enter Projects, an architecture studio led by design director Patrick Keane, the concept comes with a backstory. The design team took inspiration from a tale about three sisters, May, Zaza, and Fei, whose larger-than-life images can be seen emblazoned on the rear wall. As the story goes, May and Zaza led glamorous lives traveling the world while Fei remained in Sichuan, China developing extraordinary culinary skills in the local cuisine. When the three girls came back together, they founded this restaurant overlooking its kitchen garden, combining all three international influences into one.

The rattan itself is crafted by local Thai artisans in a traditional process similar to basket weaving. Lightweight and flexible, it’s easy to mold into organic shapes. The effect might be artistic, but the columns and ceiling installation are functional, too, disguising elements like ductwork and beer pipes. The golden swirls are meant to mimic the look of beer as it’s poured into a glass, paying tribute to Spice & Barley’s origins as a destination for Belgian craft brews.

Keane, who’s from Australia, is a big advocate for creative use of rattan, itself a naturally renewable material sourced from a particular type of palm. Back when his firm was based in Sydney and Perth, he rendered his signature parametric shapes using materials like marine plywood. Then he expanded his firm to Bangkok and drew from local architectural styles and traditions.

Enter Projects recently launched “Project Rattan,” which shines a light on the unique skillset of artisans and craftspeople and advocates for their use in modern design. The bespoke architectural design for Spice & Barley is part of this project, and the partnership also produces furniture, lighting installations, and rattan screens. Each item is digitally designed and then produced by hand.

A few months ago, Enter Projects completed a similar interior installation for the headquarters of Bangkok-based yoga brand Vikasa, using rattan to create private practice pods as well as counters and benches.

The company describes itself as “sitting at the forefront of technologically aided design,” adding that they “seek to further the culture of architecture in this country and overseas, producing projects of diverse scales with exceptionally high design integrity and material finish. By using cutting-edge software to generate new and exciting building forms, we are able to create architecture that is dynamic, expressive, and always engaged with its social and local environment.”

“Enter Projects strongly believes in the need to continuously investigate and develop our design philosophies by placing a high emphasis on sketches, physical models, and 3D investigations. This allows for the design process of each individual project to collectively and continually evolve and grow our understanding and explorations of space and form.”

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Instead of waiting for government officials to jump on the green space trend, some city dwellers are taking matters into their own hands by turning their homes into lush oases of living plants. When you have access to a yard, creating your own private paradise is a lot easier — but what if you live in an apartment tower? For Bangkok-based architecture studio Apostrophy’s, the answer was building a 25-foot-tall vertical garden stretching up to a spacious skylight, making use of the full height of the condominium.

Created for use by the firm’s director in his private residence, “Feature House” transforms the interior of a unit that looks ordinary and unassuming from the outside. The designers opened up a void in the roof, which they call the “moon door,” to transmit daylight all the way through to the ground floor. A smart home system allows the residents to control how much light is getting in and even the direction in which it shines into the home. The vertical garden is located on the back side of the house.

The garden was designed to fill the gap between busy urban lifestyles and nature, says Apostrophy’s. The designers wanted a solution that was tailored to the limited space of a townhouse yet dramatic and effective. They placed carefully selected plants on a series of vertical shelves, adding UV lamps and a watering/fertilizing system in so that the residents wouldn’t have to constantly climb ladders to keep the greenery alive.

Deliberately oversized furniture, such as an extra-long dining table, complements the stark black-and-white color scheme, which is in turn accented by gold vertical shelving. Each floor has its own theme, with the bottom level representing the earth and the origins of life, the second representing terrestrial animals, and the third representing air, wind, and insects.

The designers mixed the owner’s eclectic personal collection of furnishings and decorative objects from global travels with their modern twist on classic Asian aesthetics. High-end modern furniture from the West contrasts with chinoiserie, which the designers define as “the reinterpretation of oriental ornament into Western tradition.”

“Thus, the overall space would be elegant as the Western style but still keep the soul of the East,” they say.

It might not be a replacement for parks, but you have to admit, sitting in that acrylic bubble chair gazing up at the sky through the leaves of hundreds of plants isn’t a bad way to adjust to city living.

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Inspired by the classic cartoon Tom & Jerry from the 1940s, this fun vacation home for a family with four children features lots of space to run and hide. Opened up to free circulation to fully engage the occupants with the space and each other, the home is packed with jumping nets, sliding surfaces and other interactive elements.

“the house of Jerry the mouse were built, it might appear as a big piece of cheese in which the möbius strip would be a desirable route for him to run away from Tom the cat. Thus, the dwelling is thought of as the object that children would year for and that increases the meaning of having a holiday for the parents,” say Onion architects.

A three-story open space within the living area serves as a central play area with five nets strung at various heights and slops, connecting to different levels of the home. Holes in each net make it easy to drop from one level to the next.

A mirrored film attached to the ceiling makes anyone playing on the nets feel like they’re floating on air when they look up, visually expanding the space. Even the bedrooms are playful, with unexpected upside-down cutouts and tunnels leading to the common areas.

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Located on the island of Koh Samui in Thailand, these stunning holiday homes offer a contemporary ocean view getaway with sparkling infinity pools that seem to drop right off the cliff.

Each of the 28 modern villas at the Samujana Resort has its own particular character, but all offer private pools, open-air dining, a range of luxuries and conveniences and beautiful architecture that focuses on vistas of the surrounding landscape.

Lounging sofas overlook the pool and in some cases, are even submerged in the water. Glass-edged rooftop decks enable views of the white sandy beaches and sunsets, and many of the rooftop surfaces are covered in grassy gardens. Indoor-outdoor spaces abound to take advantage of the temperate climate, and many of the living spaces within the villas can be opened via operable glass panels.

The villas are available either to rent for holidays or to purchase as a private residence. They’re perched on a hillside above a coral cove with private beach access. The architecture, by Gary Fell of Gfab Architects, blends contemporary luxury with Thai traditions, bringing in references to the natural setting in rock walls and tree-filled courtyards.

Each villa has between three to seven bedrooms, so there’s certainly no shortage of room for guests, and many are outfitted with private cinemas.

“Samujana villas offer infinity edge swimming pools with complete and sublime sea and lush hillside views. Large enough for laps, decadent enough for pool parties and enticing enough to steal away any ardent sun worshipper for a cooling plunge.”

“Boasting comfy slumber parlours from three bedrooms to eight, there’s no shortage of rooms to host your guests. Some rooms open out onto plunge pools, jacuzzis or landscaped rooftops with space for relaxing or taking in a yoga session with a great view. All Samujana villas feature extensive living and dining areas, modern kitchens, oversized private infinity edge pools and are equipped with the latest in audio and media amenities, all inviting you to enjoy your place, in your time!”

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Some homes seem to simply spring organically from their surroundings rather than being placed there by the human hands of architects and builders.

The breathtaking Hilltop House on the edge of Thailand’s Kaoyai National Park is a home that seems more in tune with its environment than most.

Designed by the architects at Openbox Company Limited, the Hilltop House began with a rocky, richly forested landscape. Although the site is a very large 8000 square meters, the client asked only for a small, one-bedroom, 350 square meter house.

The spot chosen for the home was already occupied by two massive, beautiful ficus trees. There was also a large pile of rocks at the site which had lain abandoned for more than 40 years.

These existing elements became important parts of the final structure: the pile of stones was largely left untouched, with the house elevated above it. The ficus trees almost seem to support the home as they grow alongside the structure which seems to be part of the rainforest itself.

Some of the existing stone was used to build the walkway to the home, and a stacked concrete staircase was added to guide the resident and visitors to the entrance.

The home was built with an obvious reverence for nature. Even inside, gigantic windows and organic materials bring the outside in at every possible opportunity.

“As a trend setting architect, landscape and interior design company in Bangkok, we specialize in residential projects of all ranges.Our team design from Thailand modern house, Low-rise Thailand modern architecture to High-rise Residential in Thailand. Our strategies initiate with a little step by doing site analysis to know the feasibility of each project. With this method, every inch of the area shall be efficiently used no matter how restricted the clients’ requests are.”

“If you want to learn more about Thailand modern architecture, look no farther than Open Box (OPNBX) Architects. As a renowned and responsible architect firm in Thailand, we offer innovative and unique residential house designs for our customers. You can contact us for villa, apartment, flat and condominium designs of exceptional quality and appeal.”

“The tastes and preferences of people change with the emerging trends. Our professionals study all these trends and incorporate them into our designs to deliver a solution that surpasses the expectations of the customers. Our reputation as a modern architecture Thailand company stands second to none. We have been operating in this industry for more than 10 years with an impeccable track record.

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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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

“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.”

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