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Architects: onion
- Area: 2450 m²
- Year: 2021
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Photographs:W Workspace
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Lead Architect: Arisara Chaktranon
Text description provided by the architects. The second phase of Sala Khao Yai was constructed in 2021, 13 years after its first phase. The project has 3 room types: a 3 bedroom Pool Villa, 2 Pool Villa Suites, and 3 Pool Villas. There is also a main swimming pool on a mountain. Through its masterplan, buildings and interiors, the design of spaces at Sala Khao Yai focuses on views of Thailand's National Park and the nature that exists on the site. We paid attention to the buildings' orientation, natural light, and the direction of the wind, particularly in the daytime. At night, we designed the villas to welcome the appearance of the stars.
In the first phase of Sala Khao Yai, the villas face the sunset, whereas almost all villas in the second phase face the sunrise. The only exception is the 3-bedroom Pool Villa, built on the mountain top, which has a 360-degree view. Our designs are inspired by the silhouette of surrounding mountains, the contours of the landscape and the organic characteristics of the site. The 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 earth-tone colors such as dark brown. Its ceiling 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 scenery. The idea is to create soft shadows from natural light. We chose a single off-white color to blend the boundaries of walls, floors, and ceilings. We erased joints between corners of the rooms by curving the ends of the wall at the floor and ceiling. There are no sharp shadows around the edge of the spaces. The layouts open the interiors outside towards the East. Each bed is placed in the best position to face the view. Another important composition is the location of standalone bathtubs, a place to see the scenery and its reflections through a mirror.
The desire to be in harmony with nature is reflected in details. We designed every piece of oak wood furniture with curves. The free-standing circular bathroom wall is built with rounded corners clad in small pieces of white marble on both sides. We decided upon the bright earth-tone colors for all fabrics used in the room, together with a final touch of pink. Pink is the color of Khao Yai's soil.
The villas, hidden behind the mountain from the project's main passageway, are composed of a sala (pavilion), daybed areas in front of the building, daybed and barbecue areas at the rooftop, private swimming pools and outdoor bathtub platforms next to the edge of the mountain. These spaces increase the possibilities that our guests have to spend time with nature, contemplate the stars, bathe in the open air, to grill meat with fire. The 3 bedroom Pool Villa is built on the site's highest ground. Each en-suite bedroom has a different layout, facing 3 different directions of scenery. This choice invites our guests to stay more nights and to experience different views in the morning when waking up. It has a 200-square meter open-air living room, a 14-seat dining table, a working corner, and a pantry.
The space is ready for a party. We designed loose sets of furniture in this living room for our guests to rest all day. They are invited to change the chosen sofa to see another view. The spiral staircase of the villa leads our guests to the private rooftop and a wonderful 360-degree view. We carefully designed the swimming pool as a reflection of the sky. In the shallow water area, our guests can walk on the image of the cloud. In the deeper water area, they can swim with the horizon. A magical moment of the day tends to happen around and immediately after sunset. We observed 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 away from the villas. We walked down the mountain towards the West and placed the 32-meter-long swimming pool, reaching out to the sky, in the direction of the sunset. The 80-square-meter pool bar is an open-air pavilion, composed of a lounging area and bathrooms. We placed a large mirror to reflect the view of the main swimming pool to the interior of the pool bar. Our guests can experience the gradual disappearance of the sun through the overlaid mountains as they swim every day.
