WARchitect builds the skyscape apartment on a rooftop in bangkok

with a unique location on top of a 5-story apartment building, WARchitect has designed the skyscape residence in bangkok, thailand. the rooftop was previously only used to keep water tanks, leaving a lot of empty space. the owner, therefore, wished to build a small house there for his own use. with its unusual context, instead of a normal ground, this house has a concrete courtyard, while trees are replaced with the vertical lines of tall buildings.

all images © rungkit charoenwat

 

 

to avoid creating a stark contrast between this house and the apartment below, the team designed the house so that no one could see it from public roads. the idea was not to make the apartment feel like a building, but like a borderless box that emerges out of nowhere in the sky. the intention was to create an illusion to onlookers that the entire ceiling is in the same straight line even though it features a drop ceiling and a slope that is intentionally used to make the wall and ceiling look thin.

 

 

regarding the function, the owner wanted the house to be simple for his private use as he did not frequently receive guests. taking this into account, the architect thought that it would be interesting to make this house look more ‘naked’ than usual. the boundary between each room is linked by a courtyard. the functional area is divided according to the grid of the apartment’s pillars underneath, resulting in a six-grid layout.

 

 

the front section consists of three grids which are used as a dining area, a living room and a bedroom where the owner can see a panoramic view through a large sliding glass door. the back section consists of the remaining three grids which are used as bathrooms, a courtyard that can be seen from anywhere in the house and a kitchen. since the owner already had a large number of balau wood planks, they were used as the cladding material. the final result is a space completed with the warm color of wood and the cool tone of the sky.

 

 

project info:

 

project name: the skyscape

location: ladprao soi3, chompol, bangkok, thailand

architect: WARchitect

area: 1614.59 ft2 (150 m2)

photography: rungkit charoenwat

 

designboom has received this project from our ‘DIY submissions‘ feature, where we welcome our readers to submit their own work for publication. see more project submissions from our readers here.

 

edited by: lynne myers | designboom