31/08/2019
📍 Project: Ginger Jar Ari
Type : Hostel
Architect: INchan atelier
Location: Ari, Bangkok, Thailand
Area: 200 sq.m.
Principal architect: Intanon Chantip
Photographs: Add Wimolrungkarat
Stylist: Tada Tongthawornsuwan, Tharisra Chantip
Transforming a small 40-year-old townhouse into a rental vocation home.
Ari neighborhood is one of the top vibrant areas in central Bangkok where youngsters and travelers commonly hang out. The demand for hospitality and accommodation facilities are rising. For this project, we are asked to renovate an old 2-stores townhouse in Ari area to be a 5-bedroom vocation house.
The physical constraints:
The project is a 120-square-meter townhouse at the very last unit of the ally and the driveway in front of it is likely narrow. But the main worry is much about its level, which is quite low compared to the main street level. With that, we must take this level issue seriously and have to come up with a good solution to safe the house in case of flood. So, the idea of making a 50-cm high retaining wall at the very front of the house is the key idea and the other design issues will be derived from such a condition.
The design:
First, the front elevation attempts to make a proper visual attraction from the street view and bring about an apparent mood and tone of the Asian row how.
Second, the plan leads the experiential sequences; from the outdoor to the semi-outdoor with greenery to the buffer space at the entry to the indoor interior. Also within a small footprint of the existing structure, many compact service facilities must be provided; such as a common room, a reading corner, a long table for big dinner, a kitchen, a laundry area, and bathrooms.
Third, the section has to provide various volumes with different spatial qualities.
Lastly, the color scheme is planned to play an important role for interior design. With the fact that the owner has a strong passion with antique ceramic arts, we hence choose the combination of creamy white, indigo, and natural teak wood. Then the little portion of brass and greenery will fulfill the tone of the house.
