Serenity Cape Yamu, Duangrit Bunnag DBALP Architect
Serenity is an incredibly beautiful house that reclines elegantly along the northern shoreline of Cape Yamu on the eastern coast of Phuket Island. The narrow linear site has stunning views of Por Bay and Phae Island in the foreground, while its connection to a wider world is signaled by the flight path to Phuket International Airport 12 kilo- meters away to the north over Phang Nga Bay. The house is the home of British-born Anthony Wilkinson and his Hong Kong- born wife Anna (Wong). The couple have two daughters, one living and working in Brisbane and the other living and working in Hong Kong.
The house is entered through a large pivoted timber door from a south-facing vehicular courtyard. The door is set in a long gray granite-clad wall; a panoramic view of the ocean is denied at this point. Beyond the door, a transverse corridor leads to an open footbridge over a pond and waterfall that are, conceptually, a protective moat. At this point the spatial compression in the entrance lobby is dramatically released and there is an incredible visual connection with the sea, the off shore islands and the horizon. The element of surprise is an important aspect of the enjoyment of the dwelling.
The orthogonal plan of the house is a series of interlocking rectangular spaces forming a linear composition occupying 60 percent of the 40-meter-long site. The architect has moved the house away from the slope to facilitate cross ventilation, and the deep courtyards created along the southern edge of the house permit the house to breathe. The result is a sophisticated modernist composition with precise horizontal lines stepping down the slope but stopping short of the shore. A glittering azure infi nity pool stretches along the upper deck, and in the rear courtyard is a dramatic tall fountain. For my visit, Anna Wilkinson has chosen to play a CD of a Parisian jazz ensemble that seemed wholly appropriate for the mood of the house.
I am accompanied on my perambulations by the owners’ three dogs—two gentle chocolate labradors, Mooshi and Toffee, and Rusty, a local mongrel of a much more inquisitive nature.
The architect of the residence is Duangrit Bunnag of DBALP, who pursued his first degree in architecture at Chulalongkorn University before studying for a postgraduate diploma at the Architectural Association (AA) in London from 1993 to 1995 where he elected to join the studio of Jeff rey Kipness and Barhan Shirdel. Upon his return to Bangkok, Bunnag worked with Nithi Sthapatinonda at A49 before branching out on his own in July 1998. He was also editor, until 1999, of art4d, a leading architecture design and art magazine in Thailand.
The owners of the house met Bunnag through an interior designer friend who had worked for DBALP, and from the outset a firm rapport was established. The couple did not want a traditional pitched roof, and so the house has what is known as a flat ‘upside-down’ roof, with insulation on the upper surface that maintains the interior at a consistently cool temperature. The sun rises at the end of the pool terrace at 06.45, but by 08.00 has moved south and does not penetrate into the house except in the late afternoon.
The four-bedroom house is within a larger development known as Baan Yamu. Several weeks aft er visiting the house, I read the Man Booker Prize 2009 nominated novel The Glass Room by Simon Mawer. The author might have been writing about the uplift ing spatial qualities of Serenity at Cape Yamu when he describes the Glass Room as ‘Perfection of proportion, of illumination, of mood and manner. Beauty made manifest.’
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