A Young Homeowner’s Tropical Dream
In Phuket, Studio Locomotive’s budget-conscious and intelligent design of Prim House allowed the young client to realise her dream of owning a home without going into debt. We speak with design director Thanart Chanyu about her approach to designing this tropical home with needs and means front of mind
Design Anthology: How did you first meet the client?
Thanart Chanyu: Prim is actually our studio manager and partner at Studio Locomotive. Though she was born and bred in Phuket and co-founded our studio here, investing in a home in this tourism-driven province without falling into major debt was almost of reach for her as a twenty-something millennial. This presented a challenge for me as a design director and I set out exploring how to create a budget-friendly home that Prim could live comfortably in, despite its small size.
Can you tell us about her and her lifestyle?
Like other ambitious young millennials, Prim is motivated and invested in her career. She values the freedom to she has to experiment and take risks in all aspects of her life, and investing in a home might have been a considerable financial liability. All of that considered, she was determined to start humbly and not go into debt for the sake of owning a home. A condominium wouldn’t be plant- and pet-friendly, two of her requirements, so she settled on this 140-square-metre house instead.
Influenced by her profession and interests, she’s fascinated by handicrafts, art and antiques, and she hopes to grow her collection of these charming objects and display them throughout her home.
What was her brief to you for the project?
We needed to work to a strict budget to ensure that Prim wouldn’t need to take out a loan and could use only her savings. She required two bedrooms, for herself and her mother, and an unfussy shower room that they could share. Lastly, as an avid gardener she wanted to be able to have plenty of plants inside and outside the home.
What’s unique about the building and the location?
The home sits on a 100-square-meter plot in a low-rise residential neighbourhood in Phuket. The surrounding area is lush, with a rubber tree plantation nearby. This unassuming two-storey building in modest black and white is unlike other similar establishments, which have poor ventilation and a lack of natural light. This tropical home with open living spaces is breathable and self-cooling thanks to the full-width front openings and rows of prefabricated air vents arranged on the rear wall. The central air well and skylight offer vertical ventilation and plenty of natural light.
How did you approach the project — what design references did you try to incorporate into the space?
We aimed to design a cost-efficient, energy-saving, secure and highly liveable home. The central air well, commonly found in traditional Sino-European shophouses in the historically Chinese areas of South East Asia, is integrated to allow daylight to reach most parts of the home, including the indoor sunken planting bed, while dappled sunlight penetrates to the ground floor passageway through the perforated steel staircase and overhanging grate bridge.
Please tell us a little about the material choices for the space.
Working with such limited financial resources, we prioritised using industrial materials and techniques like raw steel products, prefabricated air vents and polished concrete. We decided to leave many of the structural components exposed to avoid additional costs and construction complexity.
Do you have a favourite element or design detail in the architecture or interiors?
I love the objets and plants placed throughout the home. Prim is really passionate about design and plants, and she has pieces from her favourite botanists and emerging artists like whimsical French illustrators Atelier Bingo and fanciful Thai ceramics studio May&Clay. The decorative objects and uncommon tropical indoor foliage come together to create a very personal home that Prim can grow into.
Images / Beer Singnoi
