About Habitusliving

 

Habitus is a movement for living in design. We’re an intelligent community of original thinkers in constant search of native uniqueness in our region.

 

From our base in Australia, we strive to capture the best edit, curating the stories behind the stories for authentic and expressive living.

 

Habitusliving.com explores the best residential architecture and design in Australia and Asia Pacific.

 

Learn more

The Natural And The Constructed In South East Asia

The Natural And The Constructed In South East Asia

How Bangkok-based architecture practice Nitaprow aligned a brand’s ethos to its architecture.

The brief for Patom Organic Living was straightforward and this building offers an elegantly simple, (but not simplistic) response. Nita Yuvaboon and Prow Puttorngul, the founders of architecture practice Nitaprow were asked to create a largely transparent space that functioned as a showroom and a café for Patom’s organic body care products whilst maximising outdoor green space to accommodate a weekend farmers’ market and workshops for sustainable living.

Located in a prime Bangkok neighbourhood, this small wood-framed glass building sits on a raised mound covered by wild grass and ferns, its glass transparency softened by the lush surroundings. “We were consciously designing with the brand’s sustainable value in mind,” says Prow. “The building is a carefully crafted organic product. A modern concept of the brand that aligns with the building’s environmentally conscious materials, composed in a modern glass box.”

Patom Organic Living Nitaprow cc Ketsiree Wongwan store

Patom Organic Living Nitaprow cc Ketsiree Wongwan cafe

As a result all the structural posts and beams are made of reclaimed Redwood and Tabak Wood which were recovered from the owner’s old and abandoned houseboat. In addition, fallen tree trunks collected at the owner’s farm have been given a new lease on life as the bases of the brass display tables. Café furniture was refurbished from the client’s unused teak furniture collection.

The strongest architectural element in the space is the composition of wood posts and the ceiling pattern. “These owe their visual reference to the scenic view of coconut trees and palm trees at Patom’s Organic farm,” explains Puttorngul. “Their tall slender trunks with branches that radiate around the trees’ zenith, form an inspiring gesture which initiated the design of the ceiling’s structural layout and the central wood post of the building.”

Patom Organic Living Nitaprow cc Ketsiree Wongwan staircase

Patom Organic Living Nitaprow cc Ketsiree Wongwan timber

The team have artfully paired the aged timber with lots of clear glass, resulting in a well balanced contrast in materiality. “The building’s transparency and its modest size set out to unveil the expanse of the lush garden around,” Prow continues, “which in turn create a setting where passersby can catch a clear glimpse of the livelihood inside this glass enclosure.”

Nitaprow
nitaprow.com

Photography by Ketsiree Wongwan

Patom Organic Living Nitaprow cc Ketsiree Wongwan architecture

Patom Organic Living Nitaprow cc Ketsiree Wongwan nature

We think you might also like Caroma on Collins by Archier


Author:

Elana Castle is an architect, writer and photographer. She has spent her time traveling and working across the globe with stints in New York City, Cape Town, Sydney and currently resides once more in New York City. In 2009, she established STUDIO e* as a framework for her architecture, writing and photography and in 2012 she went on to co-found Castle + Beatty, an architecture and interiors photography business with an editorial edge.