Sense

INTRODUCTION Architects 49 and 49Group celebrated their 30th anniversary in 2013, and are now in the 33rd year since their establishment.

This is the third monograph published by the group, the previous two were to celebrate our 20th and 25th anniversaries.

The group has grown to provide design and consultancy services across a range of disciplines as well as having a diverse portfolio containing various project types. The common objectives since its founding continue to be focused on outstanding design and professionalism. In 2014, the group refreshed its branding in preparation for the next phase of growth and development. Being attuned to the new generation of clients and new crop of talented young designers means we are prioritizing the work-life balance and growing into a company that is smart, sensitive, creative and professional. Some of the outcomes are represented here in this publication in four parts: Sense / Project / Design Competition / Professional.

The selected projects are presented from different perspectives. The first part shows these projects through “sense,” reflecting how one can experience the different senses in architecture. This is to convey how people’s perception towards a particular piece of architecture can be influenced by its context, culture, environment or even time. The intention is to look at A49’s architecture through the different senses, in relation to “place” and how people respond to it, “space” as it flows through the building, the “wonder” of unexpected experiences, “playfulness” and how to bring joy to people, “the East” reflecting cultural identity, “romance” enhanced through setting and light, and “touch” showing sensitivity to detail and texture. These senses are qualities that can be found in our projects, some more than others, and are designed to be a part of the experience of the architecture of A49.

In the process of gathering the projects’ information for this publication, we had the opportunity to revisit a series of projects and the way they were created. Some interesting patterns were found for what had been done under certain time frames and conditions, including what could have been done differently in some cases. With the variety of projects presented, the many different design approaches reflect the particular set of criteria and opportunities in each project. The end results are representations of the lengthy design, coordination and implementation process aimed at meeting both the clients’ and our own expectations.

Design competitions are becoming more common these days as the procedure for commissioning architects. Here we present a selection of design competition projects, both first prize winners that are being built as well as unbuilt ones that otherwise may not be presented anywhere. In a design competition project, major efforts are put in to create outstanding design ideas.

Many compelling and innovative ideas are presented in these competition projects, to be built or otherwise, and thus worthwhile recording here. Many a time efforts end in disappointment, but on many happy occasions they have resulted in outstanding architecture.

We would also like to celebrate the most important asset of any architectural practice, its staff, which include architects, designers, directors, managers, specialists, administrators, technicians, production team and even drivers, who all work together to deliver our high-quality professional projects. Without any one of them, the team would not have been complete.

It took a long while to put together this publication. Many thanks to the effort of the editorial team, photographers, writers, graphic designers and most importantly the architects, designers and the team who created the works presented in this volume.

Many thanks also to the clients and developers as well as the builders who realized the projects. We are hopeful that the works published here will inspire and encourage everyone to create even more outstanding architecture that works well with the people and its environment.

PICHAI WONGWAISAYAWAN EDITOR IN CHIEF

7

SENSE Sense of Sense of Sense of Sense of Sense of Sense of Sense of

14 16 36 54 68 80 96 118

Touch Romance the East Place Space Playfulness Wonder

PROJECT Prince Mahidol Hall Thailand Cultural Center Ming Mongkol Green Park King Power Srivaree King Power Pattaya King Power Phuket Vidyasirimedhi Institute of Science and Technology (VISTEC) BU Masterplan BU Diamond Imagine Village, Bangkok University Center for Cinemetic and Digital Arts, Bangkok University Tourism Tower, Bangkok University MK Headquarters Gaysorn II Office Development Super Tower

136 138 144 150 152 154 156 158 164 166 168 170 172 174 176 178

Central Pattana Central Plaza Khon Kaen Central Plaza Chiang Rai Central Plaza Surat Thani Bangkok Midtown Joice Seacon Bangkae Seacon Srinakarin Gateway Ekamai

180 182 184 186 188 190 191 192

Hotel Indigo Bangkok Wireless Road Holiday Inn Express Bangkok Siam Hilton Sukhumvit Bangkok Double Tree by Hillton Hotel Sukhumvit Bangkok Holiday Inn Hua Hin Vana Nava Hua Hin Water Jungle Sasabhumi International Learning Center Renaissance Phuket Resort & Spa The Tubkaak Krabi Boutique Resort (Pool Villa) Intercontinental Hua Hin (Extension) Marriott Hua Hin JW Marriott Resort & Spa and Courtyard by Marriott Dusit Thani Annapurna Hotel Indigo Seminyak Bali

CONTENTS

J-Diagram Refine The Nest Divergent

196 200 202 204 206 208 210 212 220 224 226 232 236 240

244 246 248 250 The Sanctuary Hua Hin Ashton Residence 41 Starview Fuse Mobius Ramkhamhaeng – Klongton The Breeze by Eastern Star The Emporio Place The Lumpini 24 Ideo Athena (Samyan) / Ashton Chula-Silom

DESIGN COMPETITION Guggenheim Helsinki PTT Innovation Park Landmark Oil Business Academy Integrated Refinery Petrochemical Complex (IRPC) SCG Museum Langsuan Village Walking Street Commercial Office by AIA The Stock Exchange of Thailand Headquarters New Thai Parliament House PROFESSIONAL

252 254 260 264 266 268 270 272

274 276 280 284 286 288 290 292 294 296 300

13

SENSE OF

TOUCH

Architecture is something we experience with our whole body, both visual and tactile. The pleasure to be had from the aesthetic experience of architecture is derived not only from form but also from surfaces and their textures. The sensations of our bare feet when pressed against a marble or wooden floor are physical, immediate and direct. The play of light and shadow as they caress and dance across different surfaces can sometimes provoke in us an emotional response.

Yet our sense of the materiality of our surroundings is not purely a physical one, but also mental and cultural, a build up of associations through time, history and memory. For example, there are many qualities people associate with wood, such as its sense of homeliness, warmth, naturalness and tradition, which are conjured up in our mind even at the mere sight of a wooden structure. Or imagine the sense of strength, formality and even power imparted by dressed stone, or the feeling of coolness engendered by a glimpse of a body of water, not to mention its suppleness and softening impact – we do not even have to touch these materials directly to experience their effects.

Consequently, the ways in which architects design and manipulate these building materials can transform what might otherwise be an ordinary passageway into a visceral journey and what might otherwise be an ordinary room into a sensual and emotional encounter.17

SENSE OF

PLACE

Aldo van Eyck wrote that “Whatever space and time mean, place and occasion mean more. / For space in our image is place, and time in our image is occasion.” Following this view, we could say that an architecture only gains a sense of place when it is able to establish a meaningful relationship with people and the myriad activities that people choose to partake in such spaces. An architecture with a sense of place, then, is space where people want to linger, to dwell in, to be.

At the most fundamental level, a building should respond to the natural makeup of the site, including topography, light and climate. It may then consider the physical character of the broader surrounding environment, such as other nearby buildings or landscape features. Beyond this, a project might consider the area’s culture, history and social and economic makeup. In this way, a building is not just an object set in a void, a mute and indifferent pile of concrete and steel, but is integrated within the natural or urban fabric in which it is placed, reflecting the character and spirit of the existing environment.

And over time, to become an essential – perhaps even beloved – part of people’s lives.

69

SENSE OF

WONDER

Extremity in nature provokes in us the feeling of the sublime, an overwhelming sensation teetering on the threshold between awe and fear.

But the extremes of human invention, on the other hand, are often more benign and fill us with a feeling of surprise and admiration. We find these wonders to be inspiring because they reflect our capabilities as human beings, often they are architectural monuments of a grand scale, from Egyptian pyramids to the Great Wall of China. It is however not always about bigness, at the opposite end of the scale are the intricate minute details of exacting craftsmanship, such as found in exquisite wood carvings or the complex web of finely-wrought calligraphy that adorn every corner and every crevice of an ancient mosque. Color, light, line, complex and irregular forms or the manipulation of space, such as by opening up, slicing or compressing, are some of the tools by which the feeling of awe can be provoked. Our sense of wonder can be triggered as much by feats of engineering ingenuity, by complexity or simplicity, and equally as much by when we encounter something unexpected, yet inspiring and uplifting in their emotional impact.

119

MING MONGKOL GREEN PARK Initiated to commemorate the 84th birthday of the King of Thailand, the park was conceived under the philosophy of sustainable living. The project was intended to be a rest area for travelers as well as a public park for the local communities. It is equipped with wind turbines and solar panels to help reduce energy consumption. The majority of the trees and plants are existing species well suited to its climate.

At the core of the project is a cluster

of buildings grouped around a central courtyard and enveloped by the landscape. The focus is on The King’s 84th Anniversary Memorial Hall, whose relatively small floor space is set against a soaring ceiling height that together with the placement of large double doors on three sides, allow the building to be naturally ventilated. The Memorial Hall is clad in vertical timber substitution fins, which reflect and meld with its surrounding. The fins have been spaced far enough apart to allow ever-

shifting shadows to be visible while reducing heat gain to the building envelope. The open-air kiosks for selling local products are constructed from the same materials, while the two enclosed shops are lined with pivot doors that can be opened up to create a semi-outdoor space appropriate for its location in a park, as well as being a way of living sustainably in the tropical climate.

Location Kaeng Khoi, Saraburi, Thailand Area 32,000 sq.m.

Year 2014

CONTEXT : The design respects the surrounding natural environment by, for example, using earth mounds to connect to the surrounding landscape.

ZONING : The site is divided into three zones: parking lot, architecture and landscape.

NEGATIVE & POSITIVE : The build-

GREEN : The design was based on

MASS : The design was based on sus-

TRAFFIC : The project clearly separates the different routes for different types of uses to ensure that they are safe and fit for purpose.

sustainable principles such as incorporating the use of wind and solar energy, clean energy and recycled water.

tainable principles such as incorporating the use of wind and solar energy, clean energy and recycled water.

ings and other functional areas are surrounded by the green landscape in order to create a truly natural environment.

SUFFICIENCY : means moderation within reason, build-

ing up immunity against future changes, adopting the middle path in life, being in balance and neither harms oneself nor the environment.

From the philosophy of “Sufficiency Economy� as espoused by His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej.

151

KING POWER PHUKET Known today as the “pearl of the Andaman,” Phuket and its various historical names have many associations with jewels, precious stones and glass, while in the time of Rama VI and Rama VII, the seal of the local boy scout unit depicted a mountain radiating with a halo of glistening light. Continuing the motif and design language of existing King Power retail stores and

drawing from the province’s history, the building’s skin and crown are rendered in a pattern derived from the graphic abstraction of the sparkle of jewels. Constructed out of perforated aluminum panels, the angled and folded edges reflect light resulting in a building that appears to sparkle in the sunlight.

Location Mueang, Phuket, Thailand Area 19,900 sq.m.

Year 2015

157

TOURISM TOWER

CENTER FOR CINEMATIC AND DIGITAL ARTS SOUTHEAST ASIAN CERAMICS MUSEUM

SURAT OSATHANUGRAH LIBRARY

CAFETERIA

COMMUNICATION ARTS COMPLEX

BANGKOK UNIVERSITY PRINTING HOUSE

BU DIAMOND

SCHOOL OF HUMANITIES AND TOURISM MANAGEMENT

The main Bangkok University campus is situated in a suburb north of Bangkok. The site is long and narrow, with the main entrance connected to a highway on its eastern front. The masterplan is divided into four zones with zone 1 and 2 on the eastern end dedicated to academic buildings and a retail component.

Zone 3 comprises sports facilities and zone 4 to the west is planned to contain the residential and recreational area as well as a future entrance connected to a new mass transit line currently under construction.

STUDENT SERVICE CENTER

BU MASTERPLAN

IMAGINE VILLAGE

165

CENTRAL PLAZA CHIANG RAI Chiang Rai is renowned for its natural beauty and picturesque landscape.

It plays host to various flower festivals, culminating in the Chiang Rai Flower Festival at the end of the year during the cold season when most people visit the city. The flower form was therefore selected to adorn the façade, partly out of its symbolic significance for the city, but also because its feminine nature reflected the building’s program and its small scale helps to break up and humanize the building massing. While the shape itself is archetypal and not

based on any real flower, the creeperlike arrangement over the façade was inspired by the Orange Trumpet, a type of vine that is also the official symbolic flower of Chiang Rai. At night, the simplified form allows just the flowers to be light up, while their varying concentration produces a sense of movement that leads the eyes towards the entrance where the flowers are at their densest.

Location Mueang, Chiang Rai, Thailand Area 76,000 sq.m.

Year 2011

185

HOTEL INDIGO BANGKOK WIRELESS ROAD Wireless Road is a particularly leafy road in central Bangkok with a rich history as the home to many embassies and ambassador’s residences as well as the earliest broadcast station and telegraph services, hence its name. The site for the hotel itself is adjacent to a large mixed-use office complex that precipitates a thronging pedestrian sidewalk. In response to this context, the building would try to connect to its lively neighborhood at all levels. The hardscape plaza located to the front of the building flows seamlessly from the sidewalk, drawing passersby towards the lobby and restaurant.

While within the sixmeter wide guest rooms, full-height bay windows – some accompanied by balconies – offer enticing widescreen views of the neighborhood and city.

The corridors are naturally-ventilated via open-air double-height atria, which are stacked on alternating sides of the building, giving rise to natural crossventilation while ensuring a measure of protection against rain. These courtyards also allow for more corner rooms, in addition to being pockets of communal gardens in the sky. The bay windows and recessed balconies define the character and rhythm of the façade, however, the broken lines of the banding are also stressed and in fact contain a Morse code as a reference to its location’s history.

Location Pathum Wan, Bangkok, Thailand Area 17,000 sq.m.

Year 2014

The naturally-ventilated semi-outdoor corridors are open to both views and weather and in doing so provide guests, especially business travelers on a brief visit, with a fuller sense of their location even from inside the hotel.

197

HOLIDAY INN EXPRESS BANGKOK SIAM Centrally located in Bangkok, the hotel caters to business travelers and tourists on a budget. Every aspect of the building design and its services were thus “optimized” to suit this client group. This involves everything from devising the most efficient circulation routes and a compact building footprint to reducing unnecessary leisure services and providing in their stead such features as DIY laundry room and vending machines.

Following the same principles, the façade design generates visual interest through emphasizing the simple form of the building via repetition. This includes applying a checkerboard pattern and carving out voids on the building corners to create the iconic appearance of a series of stacked boxes. To help with energy conservation, acoustic performance and construction cost management, the façade design

further adhered to a 60 to 40 solidvoid ratio. Nevertheless, the architects ensured that the windows are full-height and in this way a pleasant interior ambience was achieved even with limited resources.

Location Pathum Wan, Bangkok, Thailand Area 19,000 sq.m.

Year 2012

201

THE TUBKAAK KRABI BOUTIQUE RESORT (POOL VILLA) The site for this second phase extension of a boutique resort also designed by A49 lays on a stretch of verdant beachfront commanding panoramic views of distant islands and with its back towards a large national park. The intention was to create a honeymoon destination, therefore all new accommodation units were conceived as pool villas that prioritize privacy. The masterplan followed that of the initial phase, which meant retaining all existing mature trees as well as a natural creek that flows through the property, with the buildings interwoven into the spaces in between them. Likewise with the

architectural language, characterized by the supple curved-edge gables and ridgepoles inspired by traditional boat forms, which are then complemented by detailing in a lush tropical vernacular style. The program included additional communal facilities, the highlight of which is the formally striking spa composed of three slender truncated conical structures.

Clad entirely in timber, they contain cocoon-like interiors with high ceilings culminating in an oculus that fills the spaces with a soft light.

Location Mueang, Krabi, Thailand Area 2,120 sq.m.

Year 2015

221

INTERCONTINENTAL HUA HIN (EXTENSION) To satisfy an increasing demand for more on-site amenities, the hotel decided to build an extension on the opposite side of Petchakasem Road, adding a ballroom, meeting rooms, 40 guestrooms and a pool garden among other facilities. Connecting the two wings of the hotel is a new pedestrian bridge, which will be open to the public. As a contrast to the existing beachfront wing, the new extension incorporates a large garden to the rear of the site and focuses on integrating with the surrounding greenery. Existing mature tamarind and bodhi trees were retained, they also inspired the patterns applied

to the front façade panels, shading devices and interior decoration.

To maintain the hotel’s original character, the colonial style was continued in the new design, but modernized to give it a timeless look.

Location Hua Hin, Prachuap Khiri Khan, Thailand Area 7,200 sq.m.

Year 2016

225

THE NEST The concept of the nuclear family has never really taken off with Thai families of Chinese descent who often prefer to live together in a large, multi-generation family compound.

In the particular case of this house, the three grown-up children have returned to live with their parents, with each of them now having a family consisting of no less than four members. The design must therefore provide separate and private living quarters much like a condominium, but with the addition

that every room had to be tailored to the needs and demands of each individual member of the extended family. The charm of such a multifamily house is that it provides the extended family unit with a sense of belonging and cohesive identity, fostering strong family ties through the large communal spaces and shared resources, even as it respects all the different individuals contained within.

Location Klongton Nua, Wattana, Bangkok, Thailand Area 5,500 sq.m.

Year 2013

249

GUGGENHEIM HELSINKI The chief ambition of the design was to create a contemporary museum that could be a place where local people would pass through, linger and interact with on a daily basis. The masterplan sought to put in place a pedestrian route from Tahtitornin Vuori park to the waterfront through an elevated plaza, on which the museum would also sit and would in effect feel like an extension of the existing park.

The architecture is conceived as a curvaceous glass shell and was inspired by the simplicity of Finnish glass design.

Starting with an oval shape, it then morphed into two distinct parts – the galleries and the atrium hall – connected together by a curved bridge. The final form aims at iconicity, while the glass skin will allow the building to be lit and transformed into an urban lantern at night, especially during the

long dark winter months.

Local materials would be used throughout, such as recycled glass, timber and terrazzo. The galleries are composed as a cluster of connected volumes of varying sizes in order to provide a variety of exhibition spaces fit for many different purposes.

Location Helsinki, Finland Area 12,100 sq.m.

Year 2014

277

PTT INNOVATION PARK LANDMARK This landmark project for the national oil and gas company is to be located along Phahonyothin Road, one of the major highways in Thailand. It would act as an attraction where people could fill up their car, shop and tour the building containing a museum and a learning center for students.

The buildings therefore needed to be visually provocative and related to energy. The resulting smooth, rounded form was derived from the wind turbine and wind simulation tests, the dynamic shape recalls movement and ideas about energy and would encourage people to stop and think.

Location Wang Noi, Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya, Thailand Area 39,151 sq.m.

Year 2016

281

SCG MUSEUM The location of the new home for the Siam Cement Foundation is one of the last remaining historically important sites of cement production in the country. It contains the remains of cement mills, kilns and a loading center, past vestiges of a vital industry and a way of life at a moment in Thai history.

The project preserves all these structures by interweaving the new building around these historical artifacts, integrating as much as highlighting them. The design of the museum is self-effacing and not only concerned with history but also with the natural environment. By drastically reducing its energy consumption and ecological footprint, it aims to become Thailand’s first green museum.

Location Bang Sue, Bangkok, Thailand Area 12,900 sq.m.

Year 2009

SITE

INCREASING GREEN AREA

ARRIVAL AXIS AND EXHIBITION ZONING

PULLING THE GROUND SURFACE TO CREATE THE MAIN ENTRANCE

CONNECTING THE PROJECT TO THE EXISTING CONTEXT

RESPECTING THE HISTORICAL SURFACE

PULLING THE GROUND SURFACE TO CREATE MINOR ENTRANCES

PULLING THE SURFACE TO CREATE THE SECOND FLOOR

PUSHING THE SURFACE TO CREATE THE SERVICE AREA

OPENING UP THE BUILDING CORNERS

RIPPLING THE SURFACE TO CREATE A SHADING DEVICE

OPENING UP A BUILDING CORNER FOR THE PUBLIC ENTRANCE

289

THE STOCK EXCHANGE OF THAILAND HEADQUARTERS

RATTANAKOSIN CORE

The logo of the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) represents the equilibrium engendered by opposing forces, whose energies combine to produce an ever-flowing dynamic. This reflects the organization’s role as a major cornerstone in the development of the nation’s economy and growth. The design for its headquarters thus sought to reflect this through the façade conceived as an upward spiral, which has soft edges to connote suppleness, which is a part of the Thai character.

TWO PORTIONS : POWER BALANCE

The building as a whole is thus a symbol for the gentle movement of a continuous, never-ending growth. The building also reflects its urban context through the incorporation of LED lighting that winds up the façade’s spiral contour and would display the day’s stock market index in colors that reflect its positive or negative movements, such that the state of the market can be glimpsed in an instant even from afar.

Location Ratchadapisek Road, Bangkok, Thailand Area 58,890 sq.m.

Year 2010

295

WE ARE BUILDING AN ORGANIZATION IN WHICH: WE LOVE, CARE & SHARE WITH THE WORLD AND PEOPLE AROUND US. OUR CLIENTS ARE THE OPPORTUNITY PROVIDER THAT ALLOW US TO CREATE AND DO WHAT WE DO BEST.

CHALLENGE EVERY DREAM WITH GREAT VALUES AND DESIGN.

WE ARE BUILDING AN ORGANIZATION IN WHICH: PEOPLE ARE OUR MOST VALUABLE ASSET. WE PROVIDE THE WARM AND FRIENDLY CULTURE THE SUPPORT ALL PEOPLE TO BE SMART CREATIVE AND PASSIONATE ABOUT GREAT DESIGN. WE HONOR INTEGRITY, SENSITIVITY, INTEGRITY AND PROFESSIONALISM

LIVE & LEARN TO CREATE WORLD-CLASS QUALITY DESIGN.

303

SENSITIVE

CREATIVE

TO BE THE LEADING ARCHITECTURAL COMPANY IN ASIA WITH PASSION TO AMAZE THE WORLD WITH GREAT DESIGN. PROFESSIONAL

SMART

305