LaeKhon NonBai is a small hotel located at the central part of Nakhon Si Thammarat, one of the most ancient cities on the southern part of Thailand. The initiative of the project is to revitalize the building which has already been designed and done on both structural and architectural drawing. The intention of the architect is recreating the visual perception as well as fulfilling the missing element for instance, common area without any change on the structural design. The aesthetic of the building is created without any ornamentation, only by organizing the local element and re – coding the remaining finishing.
One of the most important constrain for redesigning the visual perception of this 5 storey building on a rectangular plot of land surrounded by shophouses and apartment is to reduce the sense of solidity and repetition of the front elevation which is the only part that is exposing to the eyes. To achieve the constrain, materiality and assembly of the elements helps distracting the attention from the existing structure. By combining a few of basic construction materials including round bar steel curtain with brick and wood, the new characteristic of the building is being defined. This simplicity and straight forward façade is accommodated by using only few localizes materials. The pixilation of the façade helps creating depth and silhouette to the building.
This semi- transparent façade is not only playing a part on the aesthetic of the building but also affect the living quality within the interior space as the building is located on the tropical ambient, the architect decided to use the most out of these natural resources. Through the pattern of the façade, ventilation and natural light can penetrate easily through the space within. The variation of shadow and light effect throughout the day create a sense of vibrancy to the interior.
The building consists of 20 accommodation units with the ground floor as a lobby containing all the material that have been used in this hotel including wood, brick and glass block for the interior part. The viewpoint to the cityscape and Phra Mahathat temple, an important temple of the city, can be seen from the fifth floor of the hotel. As for the landscape design, the architect delicately designed to be part of the experience to the hotel by using the verticality of the round bar steel and reinterpret them into a form of tree.
By taking the most advantages from the localization including material and the well – craftmanship skill of the contractor team, this allow the architect to be able to experiment through the variation of ideas and construction method which create a satisfying outcome.
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