Architects:PAVA architects

Area :200 m²

Year :2022

Photographs :Spaceshift Studio

Lead Architects :Pacharapan Ratananakorn, Varat Limwibul

Client : Slow Life Community

City : Chiang Khan

Country : Thailand

Mekong House is carefully crafted to express to earth owner’s personality, the rich environment of the Mekong River, and a sense of simple vernacular architecture. The strong horizontal line of the house elevation reflects the stunning line of the serene Mekong River. To create a tranquil atmosphere, all the architectural elements are designed to be simple, humble, honest, and straightforward.

The planning of the house is designed with a combination of the modernized open-plan and local vernacular way of life. The simple rectangular floor plan of Mekong House is the key to embracing natural ventilation, and meanwhile creating the panoramic river view of the project. A series of second-floor timber balconies, inspired by the local northeastern village of Thailand, is designed as a transitional space, multi-activity area, and shading device. Under the big shade of the vernacular gable roof, the project packs all of the mechanical works, electrical utilities, and bathrooms as one single concrete core to maximize the house’s opening and clean surface of the house’s facade.

The main building material and structure are the reused timbers from an abandoned small-scale rice mill. The earth mixed with rice straw wall finish contrasting with the native red timber (Xylia xylocarpa) is the way to express the beauty of local craftsmanship. Handmade architectural tectonics blended in the rich landscape reflects the owner’s belief to be a small part of nature. The building material, such as wooden shingles, timber beams, and columns are all weathering materials that illustrate the picture of changing climate over seasons. Absorbing wetness, the house is painted to be a darker color in the storm season of tropical climate. On the other hand, the timber becomes brighter and pale in the dry season.

Mekong house's atmosphere in the daytime is different from the night. Resulting of the strong sunlight, the perception of the dark shade of the roof ceiling in the daytime is a unique characteristic of this tropical house and provides comfortable interior living space. On the contrary, to avoid disturbing the dark sky, the roof ceiling at night is indirectly highlighted to glow by a hidden spotlight integrated with the timber rafter.

Throughout the seasonal change, the project creates a humble contemporary living space with the simple language of the northeastern vernacular architecture of Thailand. Slowing down the modernized lifestyle is resulting in a serene atmosphere and a simple floor plan that is aligned with the Mekong River. Shade, shadow, and material texture matter in this house. As a result, the project is crafted to absorb the rich tropical climate and express itself as the down to Earth design blended with the rich Mekong environment.

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