- Area:
2,450 m²
Year:
2021
-
Lead Architect:
Arisara Chaktranon
Text description provided by the architects. The second phase of the Khao Yai Room was built in 2021, 13 years after its first phase. The project has 3 types of rooms: a 3-bedroom Pool Villa, 2 Suite Pool Villas and 3 Pool Villas. There is also a main pool on a mountain. Through its masterplan, buildings and interiors, the design of Sala Khao Yai’s spaces focuses on the views of the Thai National Park and the nature that exists on site. We paid attention to the orientation of buildings, natural light and wind direction, especially during the day. At night, we designed the villages to welcome the appearance of the stars.
In the first phase of Sala Khao Yai, the villas face the sunset, while almost all the villas in the second phase face the sunrise. The only exception is the 3-bedroom Pool Villa, built on top of the mountain, which has a 360-degree view. Our designs are inspired by the silhouette of the surrounding mountains, the contours of the landscape and the organic characteristics of the site. Buildings should bring nature into the interior spaces as much as possible. The first building to welcome our guests is an open-air pavilion with earthy colors such as dark brown. Its roof is made of bamboo.
For the interior of the suites and villas, we used round shapes and curved lines to build continuity with the mountainous setting. The idea is to create soft shadows from natural light. We chose a single off-white color to match the boundaries of the walls, floors and ceilings. We erase the joints between the corners of the rooms by curving the wall ends to the floor and ceiling. There are no sharp shadows at the edges of spaces. The layouts open the interiors to the exterior toward the east. Each bed is placed in the best position facing the view. Another important composition is the location of freestanding bathtubs, a place to see the landscape and its reflections through a mirror.
The desire to be in harmony with nature is reflected in the details. We design each piece of oak wood furniture with curves. The bathroom’s freestanding circular wall is constructed with rounded corners lined with small pieces of white marble on both sides. We opted for bright colors in earthy tones for all the fabrics used in the room, along with a final touch of pink. Pink is the color of Khao Yai’s soil.
The villas, hidden behind the mountain from the main passage of the project, are composed of a living room (pavilion), sofa areas in front of the building, sofa areas and barbecue on the roof, private swimming pools and outdoor bath platforms near the edge from the mountain. These spaces increase the possibilities that our guests have of interacting with nature, contemplating the stars, bathing in the open air, grilling meat over the fire. The 3-bedroom Pool Villa is built on the highest ground on the site. Each suite has a different layout, facing 3 different scenery directions. This choice invites our guests to stay more nights and experience different views in the morning when they wake up. It has a 200 square meter outdoor living room, dining table with 14 seats, work area and pantry.
The space is ready for a party. We designed loose furniture in this room so that our guests can rest all day long. They are invited to change their chosen sofa to see another view. The villa’s spiral staircase takes our guests to the private roof and a wonderful 360-degree view. We carefully designed the pool as a reflection of the sky. In the shallow water area, our guests can walk on the cloud image. In the deeper water area, they can swim following the horizon. A magical moment of the day tends to happen close to and immediately after sunset. We observe the changing colors of the sky and the image of the sky at its vanishing point.
The main swimming pool for all guests is 250 meters from the villas. We went down the mountain towards the West and placed the 32 meter long pool, facing the sky, towards the sunset. The 80 square meter pool bar is an open-air pavilion, consisting of a seating area and bathrooms. We placed a large mirror to reflect the view from the main pool into the pool bar. Our guests can experience the gradual disappearance of the sun through the overlapping mountains while swimming each day.
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