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Architects: TROP : terrains + open space
- Area: 320 m²
- Year: 2013
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Photographs:Wison Tungthunya
Text description provided by the architects. Nyx by Sansiri is a new residential tower, located in Thonburi, just across the river from Bangkok. Around July, 2013, TROP got a commission to design its sales gallery, which contains a reception area, mock up units and staff office, plus the surrounding landscape. Usually most sales gallery for this type of projects are quite similar. Clients would want to see some beautiful architecture standing in the impressive surrounding. Its main purpose is to attract the potential buyers to drive in and, hopefully, buy a unit or two.
Our first interest is to find out the meaning of the project's name, "Nyx". According to Wikipedia, "In Greek Mythology, Nyx is the goddess of the night. Most legends portray her as a figure of exceptional power and beauty. She is found in the shadows of the world and only ever seen in glimpses." The client's marketing department gave us a brief that most of their potential buyers are those who work hard and play harder. Usually these group of people arrive their homes in the late hour, therefore using the goddess of the night's name makes sense for the sale.
Inspired by this mysterious female figure, we wanted to design the architecture with a sense of femininity. Curve lines will dominate the space, while boxy shapes of the mock up units will have to be hidden. Instead of creating a sales gallery right in the middle of the site, we tried to tone down the design gesture a little bit. Our first move is to locate all function areas right next to the boundary wall. Then we cut and rolled the boundary wall inward, creating 2 curvy facades of the sales gallery.
In between these 2 curved walls, the reception area, toilets, 2 mock up units and staff office are tightly placed together. All perpendicular corners of the mock up units are now revealed only right next to the boundary wall, which nobody could see from the outside. To echo the "Night" appearance, the whole building is painted in Midnight Blue color. Throughout the curved walls, a series of holes are strategically placed to create contrast between solid and void. In the daytime, we can see the greenery revealing through the wall, while, at night, the lighting can pass through like stars.
The sales gallery is also integrated into the surrounding landscape. Green sloped landform is located in front of the first curve wall. Featured tree is planted in the middle of the space. In daytime, its shadow casts on the wall, creating beautiful pattern. At night, with the uplighting on the wall, the tree becomes only a silhouette. In the dark, the shadows and light cast on the curved walls, creating even more mysterious appearance, just like "Nyx", the goddess of the night.
