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Architects: Yangnar Studio
- Area: 148 m²
- Year: 2019
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Photographs:Rungkit Charoenwat
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Lead Architects: Dechophon Rattanasatchatham, Thapakorn Maneerath
“A real core of all architectural work lies in the act of construction. Construction is the art of making a meaningful whole out of many parts.” Thinking architecture, Peter Zumthor. Kha-nam Noi House, the re-ensemble of used material houses that insert into the existing structure of a long pigsty building. “Kha-nam” is one of the typologies of small resting shelter in the agricultural season in Thailand, mostly found that was built in basic construction method with local and easily found construction material.
The architectural language of this shelter was used to design this house not only was methodology in construction but all material resources were collected from the existing long pigsty’s structure, concrete, steel, and used wood were achieved from the old house for re- arrangement into a new house again.
This tiny family house settles in Sing-Buri province that planned to be a house of a family that can development of living in a self-reliant in nowadays context and have a space for dog training activities, which owner’s personal hobby. The existing structure of the pigsty is a long parallel building along the east-west direction with an air gap between two buildings' roofs. Plan of the main function: bedroom, living room, and the kitchen were grouped, and plan clustering was inserted in between the gap of an existing structure for benefit of light and ventilation. This compact cluster area plays at the level of the roof reflecting the existing structure also. The north side has a terrace corridor to link with a workshop space and nursery. The garden has a wide area for dog training with the grooming of the local landscape of the owner. The house gets some shading from a tree surrounded naturally.
Material of this house is the way of arranging old into new use with respect to a trace of time. 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 in the northern part of Thailand to consider an alternative way of ventilation. This authentic construction method is hard to find nowadays.
Because of the condition of inserting a new space underneath the existing roof, material like zinc sheet, a traditional stained glass (Pikul color glass) was used to let the light inside and blend the light glare in this building, that was not only the way of design to link the relationship in the space but was considered about personal relation of architectural experience of the owner. Some basic artifacts like this traditional stained glass and folk craft furniture were collected from personal experience in the house of the owner.
This might look like a simple wooden house found 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.
