Y/A/O Residence by Octane Architect & Design in Thailand

Project: Y/A/O Residence
Architects: Octane Architect & Design
Location: Sai Mai District, Thailand
Area: 13,993 sf
Photographs by: Rungkit Charoenwat

Y/A/O Residence by Octane Architect & Design

Octane Architect & Design has done a stellar job at designing the beautiful modern Y/A/O Residence in Thailand’s Sai Mai district. This residence is characterized by its open form. Not only the floor plans are completely open but they also connect to the surrounding landscape without any obstructions, bringing the slick minimalist interior closer to the lush natural surroundings of the home.

We received only a simple brief from the owners who gave us “a boundless freedom to design a unique house as if it were our own.” Liberated from external constraints, we were free to study and develop a style of architecture that we were personally interested in. Over the last 5-10 years, we have seen that a certain architectural language, in which the external wall and the ceiling converge into an oblique angle, is becoming popular, especially in commercial buildings of real estate projects.

However, apart from being on the exterior, this architectural language never appears in the interior of those buildings which are still mostly dominated by an ordinary perpendicular and parallel layout. That being the case, we are curious to see if it is possible to apply this language to other design aspects rather than just for a decorative purpose.

From our perspective, to make an architecture express the language as clearly as possible, we have to start from the plan design and the structure. Once the language has been successfully integrated into these two areas, the other elements such as the floor, the wall, the roof, the exterior, and the interior will naturally conform in unison to the style.

To achieve the ideal version of our architectural language, we need a courtyard, where sunlight is allowed to pass through and rain to fall through, as the center of the building. The diagonal wall line serves to connect the frame of the building and the frame of the courtyard, as well as the roof.

With the frame of the building being higher than the frame of the courtyard, the rain will fall from the roof into the courtyard like a curtain of a waterfall. We complete the roof with valley rafters that naturally suit the structure. The ceiling is also parallel to the roof. We have applied this architectural language to appropriately serve different functions in the 3 main parts of the building.

–Octane Architect & Design