Komkrit House Bangkok, Boonlert Design Architect
The Komkrit House is a precisely articulated cubist composition that embodies Japanese and Western influences. The ‘cool’ modern residence is located in an expensive gated settlement off Pattanakarn Road, Bangkok.
The owners of the house, lawyers Komkrit Kietduriyakul and Chaveewan Likhitwattana-chai are both graduates of USA universities— Harvard, Boston and Cornell—and are now partners in the law firm of Baker and McKenzie that was founded in Chicago in 1949. In their work, the couple have an international orientation, but their house is traditional in the sense that it is a three-generation residence. In addition to the owners and their daughter, the house is home to a sister, who lives in a self-contained apartment on the lower floor of the main house, and a retired parent, formerly an engineer with a Japanese automotive firm.
Surrounded by a high white wall, the house occupies two plots in the gated Noble Estate and is entered via a vehicular court in the southeast corner of the site. The sliding entrance gate is fl anked by a white cherry blossom tree. A sharp left turn through a narrow gap opens out to a tranquil turfed courtyard surrounded by white walls that hosts a tall tree and a reed bed.
Directly ahead to the west is the ground floor accommodation for the parent and an entrance lobby with stairs leading to the upper floor that contains the principal rooms. The dining space looks east toward a swimming pool. From the courtyard, a 180-degree turn to the right leads to a broad flight of external stairs that ascends to the pool deck and visitors’ accommodation in a poolside sala.
The house is intended to be a minimalist, neutral background to family life. The predominant color is white, in the form of smooth Turkish marble. The Japanese influence is most evident in the design of fenestration and internal sliding screens. Interior designer Barbara Barry carries through the meticulous detailing of the architecture to the design of the furniture and a system of cabinets. The powder room is palatial, with an impressively high ceiling.
The architect of the stunning modern house is Boonlert Hemvijitraphan, the principal of Boon Design. Explaining the very different architectural language of the Komkrit House when compared with others he has designed, such as the Aurapin House (page 16) and the Acharapan House (page 184), Hemvijitraphan emphasizes, ‘This is not my house. It is my client’s and I design each house for the owner, not for myself.’
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