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Architects: Bangkok Project Studio
- Area: 215 m²
- Year: 2017
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Photographs:Spaceshift Studio
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Lead Architects: Boonserm Premthada
Text description provided by the architects. Situated on a bank of the Chao Phraya River in Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya Province, The Wine Ayutthaya is a new leisure place for wine drinkers. The building was constructed to become a new tourist attraction in hopes of stimulating the economy of local communities surrounding this world heritage site, which was the capital city of Thailand 400 years ago. The building is a product of architectural creativity and environmental context molded into a magnet for tourists.
A single story building blends in with existing large trees with carefully designed landscape. The building is 9 meters in height and 11 meters equally in width and length made entirely from steel-reinforced plywood. The interior of the wine house is divided into 4 platforms, each with its own height that serves as a vantage point for visitors to absorb the beautiful view of the river from different angles, contrasting the interior with the exterior spaces. There are 5 sets of spiral stairs attached to each platforms. The ground floor is occupied by a wine bar, and seats are placed between the staircases. The platforms and staircases are scenic viewpoints.
The locally found wooden houses are the inspiration to create this steel-reinforced plywood structure. The knock-down waffle structure system which is visually light but structurally strong is being exposed by the design of floor, wall and roof. The waffle walls can be a light filter that helps cool down the interior atmosphere. Moreover, wine drinkers can enjoy another depth of experience through the sense of smell mixture between plywood and wine.
In this building, plywood a material normally used for interior purposes as furniture structure being used as a building structure. This has broaden the potential and transform the perception of plywood from a temporary material to a permanent and extraordinary edifice.
All five spiral stairs has been designed not only for circulations that fit in limited spaces but also serve as structural supports. Furthermore, familiarly experienced scale and amount of spiral stairs has been sculpt into an unfamiliar new space arousing visitors the sense of abstract.
The building is protected from rain and humidity by coating plywood with resin and covering the building with 1 millimeter thick PVC sheets. From the exterior, the undulating reflects of PVC sheets visually soften the building, in the meantime, exposed the interior through its clearness.
To overcome conceptual limitations and face challenges in both material and scale in order to create an all-embracing architecture is the purpose of The Wine Ayutthaya, a work of art to revive the spirit of this once majestic ancient city.
Originally published on April 17, 2017.
