Residence Rabbits / Boon Design by Boonlert Hemvijitraphan & T.R.O.P : terrains + open space
'Residence Rabbits' is a home of a landscape architect, his wife and their young son. Because the owner is a landscape architect, his brief to the architect was that he needed ‘a house with a series of courtyards.
The architecture was created within basic design principles to deal with Thailand’s extreme climate. Series of white walls were proposed in the East+West axis. The solid walls create blockage to the strong afternoon sunlight from the South. Rooms are integrated between those walls. With full glass windows, every room has 2 garden views towards the East and the West.
The house has two and a half stories with double volume at living and dining area. Two study rooms, for the owner and his wife, were placed on top of a guest bedroom and main restroom. Two bedrooms were located above the living room and the dining room. Between the living room and the main restroom, ‘V’ shape court was strategically proposed to bring light and space into the house.
The garden was designed not only to echo the architecture language, but also to compliment the local climate. The East court, located in front of the parking lot, offers a warm welcoming area for entry experiences. Here the residents can view sunrise in the mornings and waxing moon phases during the nights. Behind the walls, service quarter, including maid rooms, thai kitchen and laundry area, was built separately from the main house but still connected with the covered walkway.
At the West side, the private forest help filtering the strong sunlight in the afternoon. Layers of leaves provide shades for areas underneath where the residents can enjoy their afternoon outside as well as appreciate everyday's sunset. A series of long wooden decks were designed to compliment the architectural language of the house, allowing space and activities to seamlessly flow inside out and outside in. The ‘L’ shape pool enclosed the house, with green plantings in between. Shallow area for the son was built along the South facade. On the West side, lap pool was proposed to get maximum sunlight to warm the water.
Overall, the courtyards creates a variety of connections between the house and the garden. The white walls act like a big canvas where the sunlight and the layer of leaves creates changing patterns throughout each day. Not only for spatial purposes, the courtyards also help enhancing the movement of the air through the house. Basically, 'Residence Rabbits' was designed to compliment the South East Asia's climate. Together, the house and the garden create pleasant microclimates for the residents and their guests.
