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Architects: IDIN Architects
- Area: 785 m²
- Year: 2018
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Photographs:Spaceshift Studio, Ketsiree Wongwan
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Manufacturers: American Standard, D Modern Form, Lamptitude, Pammastic, Vista
Text description provided by the architects. IDIN architects office is located in the Ratchadaphisek area which is the best location for transportation but it is also one of the most chaotic districts in Bangkok. The main concept of this building comes from the idea of creating a creative private office space while hiding from the diversified context. In order to achieve that, all design processes from a major factor as planning building settings to the minor as selecting materials must collaborate together.
This building mainly consists of three zones: an architect office which covers most of the areas, a cafe which both welcomes coffee lovers and serves as a reception for company's clients as well as the recreation area for staffs during the day, and a private residential area for the office's principal. The design process starts with packing all functions tightly and surrounds them with tall trees which work as a fence for both preventing from busy surroundings and being a relaxing greenery view. Due to the narrow land, it is suitable to align the building along with the land’s length; this increases open spaces between each space and trees. Then, this long compact building mass is stretched out for inserting terraces and courtyards in between the areas for more surfaces connecting with natural light and green area.
There are 3 hierarchy of spaces; public, semi-public and private spaces and when combining the spaces in both vertical and horizontal direction, it creates new complex space. This allows visitors not to go over the zone. The public space, a cafe and meeting room for company clients, is on the front at the ground floor. The semi-public space, a working space and supporting space for architects, is in the middle on the second floor. The private space, a private suite for the owner, is in the rear zone on the third floor. The cafe is the only function can be seen from the main entrance, the rest will reveal itself respectively as visitors walking through the building.
The architects working space, the heart of the building, is supposed to be a suitable space; have a relaxed atmosphere, good quality of light and comfort temperature, for creative work. To achieve that, this area is enclosed with the Low-E glass wall facing the north for entire greenery view and the quality north light. Conversely, in order to block the harsh heat from the western and southern light during the day, almost all the west side of the building is a solid wall and a staircase.
The staircase which is the main circulation that link every function together is aligned along the south. Each void in the staircase is located on the significant platforms, such as a stair landing, in the corner of the corridor or the working area entrance hall, to let the natural light into the interior space. This organisation of functions prevent the working space from getting the heat directly but still allow viewing a greenery view and getting the quality light.
Another significant design process is selecting material of the main feature wall which finishes continuously from solid exterior wall to interior space. This material is required to be dark color to hide from the surrounding follow the main idea. The burnt cedar woods are chosen because they represent the IDIN architects' ways of design thinking distinctively. To explain more, its unique black color and texture do not come from painting or coloring, but from the result of the burning process which protect plank from fire and termite. In the same way, IDIN architects believe that the architecture should be the result of the problem solving based on function, site context and the program simply and honestly.
