The other’s own place

THE OTHERS’ OWN PLACE

Building his own house for others… Either it is for a growing up daughter, for a wife, for a father, for a mother or for an 80 year-old feeble grandmother. Khun Varut (Mr. Varut) decided to sell a house which had been bought less than a year, and to build a new house on the other land.

For a wife to get closer to her own family —

Without any boundary, the new land is literally connected to another land in which a worn-out house of Khun Varut’s brother in law is situated. However, the brother in law’s house has been expanded, overlapping on the land of Khun Varut and his wife. That is the place where an architect would express his creativity to match the various requests.

For a brother in law —

The architect was requested to demolish the expansion of the brother in law’s house, and to harmonize the overall appearance of the house with the new house design of Khun Varut. With an aim to minimize the cost as much as possible.

For a wife’s family —

Designing a new pleasant residence for the wife’s grandmother, meanwhile, where does not only fit to the routines of Khun Varut’s family but also the routines of his wife’s relatives who constantly visit the grandmother in law.

The key of residential architecture design is typically an individuality. The question was raised; what if the key idea of residential architecture design could be expanded, to become a valuable architecture for other individuals…

Due to the above trigger, the architect emphasized on the relationships of everyone involved in the space, and then translated the intangible to tangible. By redefining the program of the house; from the idea of designing one house for individual one to designing functional spaces for others first, then followed by designing a space for an owner himself.

Twisting the core of the house, adding more garden area as well as living area, yet minimizing the building footprint —

With an attempt to add more green open space to the brother in law’s place, one third of Khun Varut’s land were kept free out of any construction, to become a shared garden space which created an airy recreational ambience as well as a little but significant private space between two houses. Resulting in the minimized building footprint. In this scope; however, the private space of grandmother-in-law was still needed which had to feature all necessary to facilitate the caregiving activity, her daily routine and her hobby (which is gardening).

The best practice towards this contradiction, which could maximize the living area yet minimize the building footprint in order to maximize the garden space, would be setting the grandmother-in-law’s space on top right corner of the new house, then twisting the core of the house which would create a long continuous diagonal on the square-shape land. Resulted in the continuous interior space which became a common area linking between the new house and the old one.

For the shared garden space, besides supporting activities between two families, this garden became a heart of two houses which strengthened the relationships among every family member.

Blending the functions of two houses all together —

Since the interior space of this new house needed to support the various activities of this extended family, the architect designed the functions to be shared. To enable one house to share one functional area with another house. One needed to sacrifice one’s own space for others, still to earn more from others. To simplify this idea, it is about ‘give & take’. For better understanding, there are some examples;

A new kitchen was built on the land of the brother-in-law to become a shared kitchen between two families.
A big dining table for eight people was set in the new house which belong to Khun Varut and his wife. To encourage the brother-in-law to join a meal together with his sister’s family.
The garden on Khun’s Varut house became a shared garden which did not only facilitate the grandmother-in-law but also allowed the brother-in-law to use and enjoy taking a good view from his house.
A patio of the house of Khun Varut was blended into the house of the brother-in-law which could be a multifunctional space.
A room of father and mother was located on the ground floor of the old house.
A room of grandmother-in-law was located on the ground floor of the new one.
A living area inside the new house could be transformed into a relaxing area for the grandmother-in-law, and to accommodate the relatives who usually visit her. So she could enjoy living in the house, rather than stay in her own limited space.
The long big garage literally featured two garages; one from the new house and one from the old house. By using the same construction material for both houses to create a consistency and continuity of the space between old and new houses. Moreover, this garage which was set on the front of the two houses would create a sense of newness to the old house without investing much on the entire house.

After the architect finished with the programming of OTHERS’ space, the space for Khun Varut and his wife was begun. Since the heart or the core of the houses was the shared garden, the architect investigated and designed the functional spaces; which ones could be closed to this heart. Starting with the family space for Khun Varut, his wife and his daughter on the mezzanine which was meant to be closed to the heart. But due to the diagonal shape of the house, it consequently created the twisted form of the garden which could be viewed from the mezzanine, becoming a private garden for Khun Varut’s family only. Then the layout of the rest areas were designed on a typical residential basis.

In terms of construction, engineer team used a metal structure to answer the complexity of architectural design as well as to state the beauty of material truth through this architecture.
In addition, the metal structure wrapped and linked two houses together which implied a unity between both houses.

On the other hand, the landscape architecture featured the slope connecting the garage and the new house which blended to the rest of the garden. This slope would become a ramp which facilitate a wheelchair when in need. Lowering the ground level from the patio level more than usual to enable the family members to sit on the patio with their legs down to the ground comfortably. This patio could also be used for any other recreational activities. Meanwhile this new house’s patio which penetrated the old house would harmonize the space between both housess.