Stability, Tranquility and Comfort in the Busy Heart of Bangkok

A large white tiled basement space with a display of a jungle waterfall on one side in 55 Sathorn.

On a corner plot of land in the centre of Bangkok, 55 Sathorn is a contemporary, luxurious family home that feels far from its populous neighbourhood.

A lofty mass of contrasting curved and angular features constructed from pour-in-place concrete makes up the white façade of 55 Sathorn.

Owner and architect of 55 Sathorn house, Kuanchanok Pakavaleetorn, designed the central Bangkok home for her husband and young daughter, with the potential of her parents joining in the future.

A tall white curvy and angular facade of 55 Sathorn, Bangkok.

Located in Sathorn, a central business and cultural district of Bangkok with distinctively narrow streets and low-rise townhouses, 55 Sathorn is a unique contemporary response to its surroundings.

Large openings are positioned to maximise wind flow, while windows are carefully placed to face internally, ensuring noise reduction, safety and privacy due to the home’s noisy central-Bangkok location. The placement of the windows and openings are “used to choreograph the amount of sunlight, filtered light, and reflected light throughout the house at different hours,” says Pakavaleetorn.

The curved top facade of 55 Sathorn, Bangkok.

The “tiny” corner site is in a high density area and the building takes a “defensive, fortress-like posture,” says Pakavaleetorn, which sees the home only 50 centimetres away from the edge of the site and the neighbouring houses. To make up for the site’s small size, the three-bedroom home is five levels high, and at the top, “ribbons of concrete float weightlessly to reveal and mark the rooftop courtyard”.

“We use the movement of the sunlight as a metaphor carving away the solid concrete mass, creating separations and openings,” says Pakavaleetorn. “The noticeable curved ribbon form slowly unravels as the user travels from the first floor to the roof garden.”

An internal corner of 55 Sathorn with windows on each side, looking out to dense greenery.

The exterior of the home is covered in a textured coating, which continues inside. Designed with a “playful arrangement of space”, 55 Sathorn is internally connected by a translucent vertical steel staircase. Natural wood, concrete masonry, steel, glass and natural tones make up a tranquil and organic interior palette.

The three-bedroom home is a paragon of luxury. On the ground floor is a fitness room, office and parking spaces. One bedroom features an expansive bespoke walk-in wardrobe with custom modular lighting, and another is connected to a substantial rooftop deck, with a view over the surrounding neighbourhood.

A platform bed with a view out to 55 Sathorn's tree.

Quirky and compact stairs are placed around the house. In the living room, a black steel staircase spirals up a thick cylindrical pole to a mezzanine library. A white ladder style staircase leads into the tiled white basement.

“55 Sathorn house represents stability, tranquility, comfort, and calmness,” says Pakavaleetorn.

Looking from the top floor down the staircase of 55 Sathorn. The living room with grey couches and black steel in 55 Sathorn. Steel and wood library mezzanine of 55 Sathorn. A fridge and wood kitchen bench and grey floor in 55 Sathorn. Custom curving wood walk-in wardrobe. A tree on the concrete rooftop deck of 55 Sathorn. The angular rear facade of 55 Sathorn, Bangkok.