The Pine Crest Residence / Vin Varavarn Architects

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Text description provided by the architects. The project originated as a design for a 7 storey apartment building. It is intended as a quiet and orderly residence with limited number of units which are large and spacious with 3-4 bedrooms. This aspect is quite different from other existing condominium projects.

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The project owner wishes for a contemporary design which will be quite different from other surrounding buildings and could withstand the test of time. The building consists of 18 apartment units which are easy to maintain. Ground floor level consists of a lobby & reception, including a fitness room, staff quarter. The exterior area is designed for a swimming pool and changing rooms with outdoor shower areas and some open space courts. The apartment  on 2^nd - 7^th floor are residential  3 and 4 bedrooms units. The parking  facility is located underground.

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The design concept started with a desire for a simple contemporary building with appropriate usage of various functional spaces. The basic intention is not to create an opulent architecture, but to create a design of spaces which project warmth and personal. Therefore the aim of producing a characterize of a domestic structure became more important than being trendy. Consideration was given to the facilitation of good ventilation by means of planning orientation to capture maximum natural breeze, views and natural light. This is achieved by splitting the building into 2 wings, separated by a small central garden court which contains a huge pine tree that could be seen from surrounding units.

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And as this projects is located in Soi TonSon which mean 'the Pine Lane', the owner therefore named this building “ Pine Crest Residence”. By keeping this name in mind the architect decided to select the wood appearance for the external facade which resembles pine wood and yet create a warmth feeling for the large scale building. To utilize real timber would be too expensive and difficult to maintain and unsuitable for large scale building. So research was undertaken to process the fiber cement planks with acid stain in transforming the color that produces the most similar color and shades of real wood, and yet quite durable to the climate condition. The building utilizes 2 types of materials, acid stain fiber cement plank and washed stone aggregates as surface finishes. As for the washed stone aggregates, it is a very old technique used by Thai builders for many decades. Some may think it is outdated, but actually it can be appropriately applied and suitable to the overall design appearance.

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