The Insertion of a “Living Scafolding” to The Samsen STREET Hotel

Located in Bangkok, the Samsen STREET Hotel involves the renovation of a 30-year-old curtain sex motel through the insertion of a “living scafolding”. This green framework transforms a once dark and intro-verted sex motel into a neighborhood hotel that promotes the revival of forgotten/neglected urban Thai tra- ditional activities. The hotel provides stations for local street food vendors, the showcasing of outdoor movies, and the staging of neighborhood con- certs for local musicians, redeﬁning the idea of Southeast Asian urban- tropical community with programmes that are uniquely Bangkok.

The new steel frame interface of the building is derived from home- made scafolding structures from the architects’ long time research subjects – ‘Bangkok Bastards’ (or Thai street vernacular hybrids). These veranda-like structures are integral architectural components found in the city’s many street vernacular typologies. From temporary construction worker houses to informal shanty towns, these scafolding encase- ments create tropical transition zones in dense urban and rural buildings that become the setting for planned, accidental, and surprise urban activities.

The two major architectural components of the hotel are clearly perceived – the original structure is re-ﬁnished in plain polished cement plaster, while the new light steel scafolding is powder-coated in mint green. This colour is inspired by the neighborhood’s late-Modern shophouses, commonly painted in pastel blue, pastel pink, pastel purple, and more popularly pastel green. The scafolding consists of 3 components: the ‘soi’ (alley), the ‘rabeang’ (sidewalk terrace), and the ‘nahng glang plang’ (outdoor movie theater).

The Soi (alley)From the beginning, the client’s major requirement for the renovation was for each existing guest room to increase its capacity from sleeping two people to three people (thereby increasing in- come for extra guest provision). This expansion comes in the form of a cantilevered sleeping pod projected from the street elevation of each room. The 1.50-meter deep daybed extrusions, in turn, create a vertical “soi”, or alley, proudly exposed in the meandering façade voids, a condition which allow plumbers, air conditioning repairmen and other building maintenance personnel to service water pipes, electrical conduits, and a/c condens- ers. MEP engineering systems are now exposed, easily serviced, and celebrated as integral components of tropical urban architecture. However, on special occasions, the northwest corner of this unique façade alleyway transforms into a vertical stage where street musicians can perform for the neighborhood.

The Rabeang (sidewalk terrace)The rabeang (sidewalk terrace) area makes the most of the frequently under-utilised 6-meter setback zone between the building and the property line. Here, a canopied scaf- folding connects the hotel lobby and restaurant to the sidewalk, creating a zone of urban interaction between hotel guests and passerbys for eating, drinking, chatting. Special mobile “street” furniture designed for the area can also be rolled out to “colo- nise” the street and sidewalks during holidays and festivals when auto traf- ﬁc is closed of.

The west-facing terrace adjacent to the small alley allows local food vendors to “plug in” for electricity and water to cook, serve, and sell their street food. The collaborative social/ﬁnancial handshake agree- ment between hotel owner and local street vendors suggests a new neighbourhood business model. Whereas previously, hotel establish- ments would see food vendors as potential competitive threats to their own F&B operations, the owner of the hotel, once a street vendor him-self, sees the social and economic beneﬁts of mutual collaboration.

On the one hand, the hotel is able to support, ‘brand’, and integrate an authentic cultural aspect of Bangkok culture (street food) into its hotel programme. On the other hand, neighbouring street food vendors can rely on hotel guests as potential customers and are able to ﬁnd a sanctioned refuge for their street food activities at a time when their livelihood is under heavy scrutiny by government oicials during a nation-wide campaign to clean up Thai streets.

The outdoor theater (nahng glang plang) Previously used as a drive-in autocourt, the central void of the hotel has been transformed into an outdoor theater (nahng glang plang). Inspired by local Thai rural traditions of pop-up movies during holiday festivals, this space creates a new opportunity for urban interaction. The swimming pool

THIRD FLOOR at the centre of the court is a waterﬁlled lounge that allows movie-goers to soak and cool of while enjoying the ﬁlm. A new type of balcony was created for each guest room, allowing occupants to dangle their feet to watch the movie. The balcony forces guests to turn and face outward to not only watch the movie, but to face their neighbours across the court…thereby encouraging visual and verbal connections amongst guests who otherwise would be isolated in their rooms with their devices. A special popcorn delivery pulley system sup- plies guests on every balcony with movie-time snacks and drinks.

Bangkok Bastards

The Samsen STREET Hotel is the result of an ongoing research (survey, documentation, and analysis) of what the architects term the ‘Bangkok Bastards’, or Bangkok street ver- nacular architecture, that has been carried out over a period of 5 years. The Samsen STREET hotel therefore represents the culmination of the architects’ body of work via a three- pronged methodology of research, academia and design.

The curtain sex motel typology Previously a curtain sex motel, this typology is one of Bangkok’s unspoken and underground typolo-gies. The unique architecture of this building protects and accommodates the secrecy of its clandestine users – couples engaged in secret love afairs. Its spatial sequence is like no other – the secret couple enters a car with heavily tinted windows through an inconspicuous tunnel at the build- ing’s street elevation, emerging in a protected auto court lined with red (or blue and green) curtained parking spots with attached guest units. A secret auto exit through the side alley allows the clientele to slip out unno- ticed by those who may be scouting the main tunnel entrance.

The new scafolding – a derivation of construction worker house ‘living’ scafoldingFrom the architects’ extensive re- search of construction worker houses in Bangkok, they have surmised that these nomadic/temporary resi- dences are principally composed of 2 components: the core rooms and the scafolding. The core rooms are small, simple, compact living units in which the construction workers sleep.

The scafolding is a verandah-like, open-air but covered, light structure that serves both for circulation and as a multi-purpose outdoor living space for eating, drinking, cooking, washing, socialising. In essence, if the tenants are not sleeping in the core rooms, they can be found actively engaging the scafolding zone. The scafolding element protects the core rooms from sun, rain, and the elements, and has proven to be a critical urban tropical component that adapts to the tropical climate, but many times, becomes a social component which allows for transitional tropical space and interaction.

Project Information

Project Name: Samsen STREET Hotel

Architect: CHAT Architects

Location: Bangkok, Thailand

Design Period: Feb 2017 – Oct 2017

Construction Period: Nov 2018 – Jun 2019

Completion: Jun 2019

Site Area: 1,400 sqm

Floor Area: 2,560 sqm

Main Material: (Exterior) Polished concrete plaster, painted plaster, painted steel (Interior) Polished concrete plaster, painted plaster, painted stell, wood vinyl ﬂooring (guest rooms), epoxy ﬂooring (corridors), cement antique tile ﬂooring (restaurant)

Photography: W Workspace