“Nakhon Nayok, Dream city, Beautiful mountain, Attractive waterfall, Graceful nature, Without pollution.” With the potential of the plentiful natural environment, pure air, calmness, in the heart of the valley, all these are inside the Royal Hills golf course under the project named The Yard. Here meet the needs for the location, also, it is the beginning of the project. The land plot is 171 square meters with a width of 24 meters, depth of 28.5 meters.
“I am looking for a home providing a relaxing atmosphere. I intended that place to be a home for my father in his golden year. Meanwhile, it will be a vacation home for the family on weekends in order to take a rest after a long week of work.”, said Mr. Worawit. This is one of the exciting challenges for PPA architects.
“Every aspect of the house is nature, and nature is the heart of the house.” Since the land plot is located in the heart of the valley near the Khao Yai National Park boundary, so there are surrounded by mountains, behind the house is the lake view corner with a large water intake area. I would like the house to have functionality which is as close to nature as possible in order to experience nature in every aspect and every point of view by using sunlight, wind, and opening up the visual perspective is the key design.
After finishing doing site analysis and defining the initial conceptual framework, I started to mass design, the building is a simple 1-layer box with an elevated level of +80cm in order to clearly see the lake view. The form building is a U shape opening the courtyard and filling a natural area for planting trees in the middle of the house to allow the air circulation through the building causing Cross Ventilation.
The house is designed to have terraces along both front and back sides which are connected areas to experience the natural environment around there. For eaves overhanging the terrace, I designed it to be longer than usual since the front house faces southwest and the back faces southeast causing the sunlight to go through diagonally in the morning and evening. According to this concern, the cantilever eaves must be used to shade the sunlight indirectly, resulting in the opening glass being safe from sunlight.
Next is void designing. Drilling light holes designing for every point of view and every function in the house able to catch full natural view for feeling like always being with nature. This house focuses on the light way design, large window, and there is a sliding door design with 2-3 sliding rails for ventilation which allows airflow to pass through as much as possible. Moreover, the design of this house focuses on Passive Design and sustainable design which reduce electricity consumption, only use occasionally but mainly using renewable natural energy.
For the decoration of the building, the exterior is designed using natural materials to access the material truths. Starting from the parking area, I used washed black pebbles which were smooth and without any patterns. For stairs, I designed it to be overlapped. I chose dark gray M-stone pattern tiles, which gave a harmonious feeling with nature, and also used a non-slip surface R10. The terrace area focuses on natural materials designing the floor with the dark gray M-stone pattern tiles. Columns decorated in balcony covered with artificial wood. The exterior wood grain ceiling is an artificial wood ceiling which is
a substitute material for real wood.
Next is the terrace outdoor for grilling and viewing both the front and back of the house. It is consisting of a solid wall for covering shade covered with travertine tiles, focusing on simple patterns but fine lines which made a plain, modern style but there is even more detail. I chose a wooden tile that feels like real wood as well but has a durable life, is easy to take care of, and wipe or clean dirt when grilling.
For mood & tone, the exterior is designed using a dark gray color with dark gray tile material contrasts with wood grain columns and walls in order to blend in with nature, trees, and mountains. When walking into the house, the interior space is in a white tone, large opening surrounded by glass, and able to see the natural view clearly. The ceiling is 3 meters high providing the feeling of airy, comfortable, light, and clean in order to make the truly relaxing atmosphere.
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