Asawanonda Residence

Located within the Asawanonda Family compound, Asawanonda residence is the fourth house to be constructed among existing buildings. This house as well as other houses within the compound are at once joined and separated by carefully designed landscape. Trees, plants and water are arranged much like architectural elements that lend the residents the sense of privacy as well as natural views.

The house is designed along with its garden as a united ensemble. It is inserted into the existing ground with an aim to integrate all existing elements within the entire house compound, while providing all the houses with naturally green environment.

The house’s interior organization is a play of separation as well as unification of public, semi-public, semi-private and private areas through the placement of inner courtyards. These pockets of gardens, while intended to be viewed from within, also play a key role in the house’s overall spatial configuration. Both senses of privacy and publicity occur within each and every space depending upon one’s view and action.

Aimed to create spacious, light and open atmosphere, the house’s lengthy rectangular perimeter is provided with various types of openings for views, natural light and ventilation. Whether low of high, the spaces of the house are open and free. Variety of materials gives the house the mixture of color and texture that signify different activities as well as ambience. White and grey lime stone, grey ceramic tiles, white and grey painted plaster, wood, double-glazing glass, powder-coated aluminum, satin stainless steel, transparent temper glass and powder-coated steel, all are orchestrated into one unified setting.

The house is answering to tropical climate through its formal configuration, enclosures and elements, which operate within functional, formal as well as spatial framework of the building. They simply let the house breathe, cast the shadow and let the light in. Different layers of materials, along with the surrounding trees, act as insulator against heat transfer keeping the interior cool. Where and when diverse materials do meet, they converge with crafty details, creating the language that becomes an important part of the building’s identity.