NEW May 2012

In a 2003 essay entitled, ‘co-evolving Hetrogeneity’ the Thai architect Duangrit Bunnag wrote, “throughout the history of modern architecture in Thailand, houses have been generally a form of negotiation between foreign architectural ideas and the local context which includes lifestyle and culture, climate and traditional architectural vocabularies. The significant fact is that where negotiation ends, co-evolution begins. In the hands of local architects the external forces seem to develop an internal force, and vice versa, so that the result is a coherent structure and not a collision of styles." A tremendous body of sophisticated and sensitively designed architectural work has been produced in Thailand in the first decade of the 21st century.

The 25 houses in this book illustrate that radical new ideas are coming from a dynamic younger generation of architects who are producing work comparable with and sometimes even surpassing the very best architecture in the world. Most of these architects were trained in the U.S. or U.K. and reflect not only American and European sensibilities but also affinities with their contemporaries in Asia—including Japan, China, Singapore and Bali—all hotbeds for innovation in modern design.

The houses in this book are accessible from Bangkok, Phuket and Chiangmai. They include weekend and vacation homes as well as primary residences. The houses reflect a wide variety of concerns and solutions, such as: sustainability; responses to climate; strategies for cooling with minimal electricity; openness versus security in a large metropolis such as Bangkok; cultural sensitivity and responsiveness, as evidenced in a “three-generation house,” built for a society in which the extended family is still prevalent; and cultural memory, as in the use of elements such as piling, verandahs, and steeply pitched roofs with large overhangs that echo traditional Thai designs.

Nurtured by an increasingly knowledgeable and wealthy clientele, modern architecture in Thailand is emerging with a variety of innovative architectural expressions.