A pair of red brick walls screen the back of this house on the Gulf of Thailand, which faces away from a seaside resort and towards a cemetery where the client's father is buried (+ slideshow).
The client asked Bangkok-based architects Adisorn Srisaowanunt and Naweepahb Taksayos to design a small, secluded house as a retreat from her long working days in nearby Hua Hin, a busy resort town.
The architects named the project The House on the Hill That Turns its Back to the Sea after this concept.
The house contains a succession of open, semi-enclosed and fully enclosed spaces that eventually lead onto an exposed hillside.
Materials with varying levels of opacity – ranging from red brick to concrete, and glass and steel – were used to emphasise the different degrees of enclosure.
Courtyards and terraces hidden behind the brick outer walls provide secluded spots for reading or entertaining guests, while the client's private living areas are completely glazed.
"The transition from the internal to the external can be perceived as sequence of enclosures," said the architects.
"The use of different materials creates various densities of enclosed space," they explained, "the external wall is made out of brick, while the interior is framed with a concrete structure, before changing to glass and steel when it passes into the private spaces at the back of the house to allow for an open view to the landscape."
A flat roof overhangs the glazed portion of the house, where a deck extends from the client's bedroom towards the lakeside cemetery. Bamboo plants and trees surrounding the house and terrace offer additional shade.
"At this spot a view of the city of Hua Hin can be seen by looking towards the sea to the east," said the architects. "On the opposite side of the lake from the cemetery is a small curved road that passes from north to south. Both sides of the road are descendants' land, which is equally divided into plots."
"The plotted land portrays the family's belonging to the surrounding, which has the cemetery as the centre of the owner's inner world. In contrast, Hua Hin can be seen to represent the owner's outer world," they added. "This architecture is created to be a physical representation of the concept of inner and outer world views."
