Sustainable Asian House. Paul McGillick
Floor-to-ceiling fenestration draws in natural light, while the rich vegetation outside provides sunscreening and privacy.
The double-height living area with the Buddha shrine/window at top right.
The barbeque area on the rooftop deck, which has the potential for further development.
The safari roof with its extended eaves.
The pool area enjoys ample shade from the well-established trees.
EQUILIBRIUM HOUSE
BANGKOK, THAILAND VASLAB ARCHITECTURE
Long section.
‘I like metaphor. I like meaning. I like the source of the origin and the outcome. There is a vocabulary of equilibrium throughout the house.’—Vasu Virajsilp
Sustaining the extended family in Asia has become a challenge in the new global economy, especially in the face of rapidly changing communications technology which threatens the survival of regional cultures. A younger generation of professionals has emerged who want greater independence and privacy but without necessarily losing the sense of community and continuity that the family unit provides.
As an alternative to accommodating the extended family in one building, some people have opted for family compounds, others for a variant whereby the parents buy an adjacent block of land for their children who then build their own house on it. This provides both community and privacy, with the additional benefit of added security, because each house can provide surveillance for the other. The Equilibrium House is an example of the latter solution to maintaining the extended family—connection with separation.
The client is an economics professor at a local university who lives in the house with his wife. He and the architect, Vasu Virajsilp, share the same aesthetic predisposition for clean, geometric lines and a fondness for concrete. Not surprisingly, they are both fans of Le Corbusier and Mies van der Rohe. The client requested a modern, low-maintenance home with a sense of pure form. He wanted it to have a ‘masculine’ or robust look and also that it be protective but not closed. He specified that the house be built in concrete with minimal use of other materials.
All of this suited Vasu. But, as he points out, this
is not a public building but a home. He encouraged the client to use natural materials, especially timber, to complement as well as ‘soften’ the concrete, and to incorporate lots of visual connection to the garden and water court facing his parents’ house next door and a ‘green fence’ to screen the living room from the road. The architect has also made a virtue out of the problem of getting a good concrete finish from Thai contractors by coating the concrete to 2–3 mm thickness. The look is smoother, the concrete is stronger and more durable, and maintenance is easier. The concrete also ends up with a variable tone so that it takes on a warmer and more decorative appearance. These strategies, says Vasu, make the house more liveable. Without them, it would be ‘unsustainable’.
The hallmark of the building is a chevron form, a dynamic futuristic shape which animates the building inside and out. The thrusting diagonals maintain constant visual stimulation. They are forces which seem to be continually pulling away from one another. This is first seen in the external massing of the building, with the cantilevered box of the master bedroom thrusting out towards the street and apparently against the rest of the building. The angled garage columns, which in fact conceal a drainpipe, seem to push against the roof.
Inside the house, the chevron shape is repeated throughout, but each time in a slightly different way. For example, there are variations between the three chevron-shaped windows in the master bedroom, the windows in the dining room, the detailing in the stairwell, the staircase itself, and the shaped opening on the upper landing looking down into the dining room. The chevron shape creates a rhythm throughout the house and acts as a unifying element. All these opposing forces are kept in a permanent moment of equilibrium—hence the name of the house. According to Vasu, equilibrium is also a characteristic of his client who, as an economist, likes to maintain a state of order and balance.
The house consists of a number of refined concrete blocks and planes pulling in different directions but held together in equilibrium.
The mix of chevron-shaped solids and voids gives the house a dynamic, futuristic quality.
Floor-level air vents provide natural ventilation in the dining room area.
A ‘green fence’ provides the necessary privacy to the fully transparent living room.
The house is entered through the garden courtyard and then by way of a slightly elevated transitional terrace. The living, dining and pantry areas, together with a breakfast bench, comprise one continuous space. Sliding glass doors can close off the living room if desired. Teak is used for the flooring throughout and for the stairs. Above the dining space is an open well with a gallery linking the master bedroom at the front of the house with two other bedrooms at the rear.
The house does not set out to be a ‘tropical’ house. It is a highly transparent house, however, which aims to maintain a direct connection with the green exterior. It has a high degree of natural ventilation, sometimes in quite subtle ways, such as the air vents beneath the window facing the dining room and the translucent glass master bathroom with its partly open-to-the-sky dry pebble garden.
This section shows the void that effectively separates the house into two pavilions.
A view from the upper level down into the living/ dining room void.
The dining area seen from the living room with the gallery void above it.
Chevron shapes add a decorative touch to the master bedroom.
Running alongside the water feature, timber complements the finished concrete and glass.
The master bathroom with a view through to the outdoor pebble garden.
Ground floor plan.
The geometric complexity, viewed from the upper terrace, has a strong sculptural quality.
EKAMAI HOUSE
BANGKOK, THAILAND CHAT