Blog : lighting

MN House: A Gallery-Inspired Home Warmly Cocooned in White Architecture
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MN House: A Gallery-Inspired Home Warmly Cocooned in White Architecture

Here’s a gorgeous white home built with love and dreams. Named “MN House”, it’s an oasis of calm and comfort in the midst of the hustle and bustle of city life. Plus, there is a sense that art is present everywhere, inspiring creativity and making the expression of human imagination part of everyday living.

/ Bangkok, Thailand /

/ Story: Lily J. / English version: Bob Pitakwong /

/ Photographs: Rungkit Charoenwat /

More than anything, its interior lighting design is inspired by galleries for the display of works of art, while the external envelope consists of long, straight and curved walls likened to a combination of oversized papier mâché. The curvature of the building shell is there for good reason. It opens at intervals to bring natural light into enclosed rooms. In the meantime, the light is more diffuse thanks to crisp clean white tones that make the home feel airy, warm and welcoming.

Creative big windows bring natural light into the home, while light-colored surfaces and curves in the walls effectively reflect much of the heat away, keeping interior living spaces cool.

First Floor Plan / Courtesy of SaTa Na Architect
Second Floor Plan / Courtesy of SaTa Na Architect
Third Floor Plan / Courtesy of SaTa Na Architect

The house’s modern interior boasts a pristine living room illuminated by daylight streaming in through a large opening in the wall. For privacy, the side of the room facing a nearby building is overhung by second-floor walls that protect it from unwanted eyes. In the meantime, a skylight built into the rooftop contributes to a healthy indoor air environment. A shaft of sunlight spreads over a wide area creating an impression reminiscent of the white interior of an art gallery.

Viewed from above, the courtyard pool provides natural ventilation and daylight in the middle of the home. The mere sight and sound of water enhances interaction between indoor and outdoor living despite limited available space.
The heart of the home consisting of a living room, dining room and a home office provides easy access to the courtyard pool and a small terrace at the center of the house plan.

The second floor has a courtyard pool and poolside deck offering a serene space for relaxation. It’s the heart of the home enclosed by glass walls and accessible from multiple rooms. By design, it facilitates easy flow from one area to another, creating the ultimate communal living area that includes the living room, dining room and a home office nearby. Such beautiful visual continuity and spatial relationships can also be seen in full view from the third floor.

The inner courtyard allows sunlight and fresh air into the home while the swimming pool offers a peaceful area for relaxation. It’s amazing how the mere sight and sound of water enhances every aspect of living. Add sunshine and a gentle wind, and you get a light and airy environment despite limited space.

In terms of spatial arrangement, the floor plan layout reveals a series of rooms connected by well-thought-out lighting design and clean lines that arouse different emotional responses from one area to another. It’s like looking at picture frames placed side by side. At every turn, perfectly crisp lines and bold curves create a pleasing visual combination that matches the details of the walls and ceilings, culminating in a modern interior decorating style.

Curved symmetrical structures and round windows work alongside each other to increase natural light in the home.
The simple modern house in cool-toned whites contributes to the neighborhood’s overall appeal.

To put it shortly, it’s seamless flow between rooms that makes this white home in the city a desirable place of residence, one that reflects well on the way of life, preferences and experience of the family living in it. Here’s a home inspired by serene and inviting interiors of an art gallery. Its white walls tell the story of the importance of privacy in the midst of urban chaos.

Locals go about their daily routines in the neighborhood where the white house is located.

Precisely, a well-thought-out design ensures the homeowners get what they’ve been looking for, a beautiful home that’s fully functional and capable of answering their lifestyle needs. Plus, there’s the peaceful atmosphere of the finest private art gallery.

Architects: SaTa Na Architect

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QAH: A Gable Front Townhouse Strikes a Balance between Work and Life
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QAH: A Gable Front Townhouse Strikes a Balance between Work and Life

/ Ninh Thuan, Vietnam /

/ Story: Kangsadan K. / English version: Bob Pitawkong /

/ Photographs: Paul Phan /

A gable front townhouse with a high-pitched roof stands out from the rest in a peaceful neighborhood of Phan Rang-Thap Cham, a coastal city in Ninh Thuan Province about four hours’ ride from Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. The limited amount of space notwithstanding, the indoor environment is surprisingly comfortable thanks to a small inner courtyard designed for improved natural light and ventilation.

Using wood adds visual interest to the indoor environment, improves acoustics and balances out the coarseness of concrete surfaces.

Named “QAH”, the three-story terraced house offering 220 square meters of living space is the brainchild of Q&A Architects, an architectural practice based in Phan Rang-Thap Cham. As to be expected in a dense urban environment, the company was tasked with creating a townhouse that would strike the right balance between work and the fast pace of city life.

townhouse
A detailed diagram shows all three levels of the house plan. As a whole, 30 percent of the total space is dedicated to open areas filled with lush greenery. / Courtesy of Q&A Architects

After examining the nature of the site and exploring public realm (a shared space in the community), the design team came up with a three-story townhouse plan with roughly 30 percent of total living and functional spaces dedicated to open areas front and back for relaxation. Plus, there’s a small interior yard under the stairs brightened up by an array of skylights built into the rooftop.

The indoor environment feels invitingly comfortable, thanks to a greenery-filled yard enclosed within the building.

That’s not all. Everywhere, smart home functions blend perfectly into convenient interior design hiding in simplicity. Take for example the terrace leading to the front door that’s covered in stone pavers and adorned with greenery thriving under tree cover. To create charm, good looks, the walls are built of wood painted an earthy dark brown that balances out the coarseness of nearby concrete surfaces.

Walk in the door, and you come into the entrance hall connected to a neat and clean dining room and kitchenette. Close at hand, the small inner courtyard lies illuminated by skylights directly above. And beyond, a quiet, secluded office nook hides in plain sight at the farthest end of the room.

Using wood adds visual interest to the indoor environment, improves acoustics and balances out the coarseness of concrete surfaces.
A bright interior courtyard under the stairs separates an office nook at the rear from the dining room and kitchenette up front.

In a nutshell, it’s thoughtfully devised to let nature permeate, yet it fits in well with the homeowner’s needs and circumstances. Among the features that create work-life balance in the home, the stairwell at the midpoint of the house plan eliminates the need for mechanical ventilation and artificial light during daytime hours.

A flight of stairs built flush with the adjoining walls separates an office nook at the back from the dining room up front.

The principal bedroom on the second floor is cozy and spacious, thanks to the vaulted ceiling that follows the pitch of the roof. The ceiling and the walls are painted a cool-toned cream, while a sofa set in dark brown and bedding in muted green accent the background colors in the room. Up front, large windows open to admit natural daylight and fresh outdoor air stream into the interior, a perfect combination of colors and textures by any standards.

The principal bedroom on the second floor feel relaxed, thanks to a sofa set in earthy brown and well-positioned large windows affording a view of the cityscape.

The stairway leading to the third floor is brightened up by skylights casting shadows and colors on rough sandy textures on the walls. Together they work in tandem turning the home into a comfortable living space despite space constraints and a narrow frontage abutting the street.

A skylight system built into the rooftop lights up the stairway and a courtyard directly below.

As one would reasonably expect, the third floor holds an ancestral shrine symbolic of Vietnamese folk religion. It’s a mezzanine with an uninterrupted view of the entire interior. Carefully thought out, the courtyard directly below can be seen in full view from here.

A system of skylights built into the rooftop brightens up the spacious, well-ventilated stairwell, a clever hack to create calm and peaceful interiors.

At the very heart of design thinking, the gable front townhouse named “QAH” is made for easy, simple living, and in the fewest possible words, a house plan that strikes the right balance between work and life in the city.

A bird’s eye view of the gable front townhouse in relation to other homes in the neighborhood.

townhouse

Architects: Q&A Architects (https://www.facebook.com/qaarchitects247/)

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Metal Chandelier Designs from The Ingenuity of ASEAN Designers
livingasean

Metal Chandelier Designs from The Ingenuity of ASEAN Designers

Discover new designs and unique techniques of elegant chandeliers and pendant lights that are made of metal, steel and wire. LivingASEAN selected 4 design collections from Singaporean, Filipino and Thai designers to explore your artistic creativity of ASEAN décor.

 

ligne-roset

 

Parachute pendant lamp - Brand: Ligne Roset, Designer: Nathan Yong
Parachute pendant lamp – Brand: Ligne Roset, Designer: Nathan Yong

Let’s start with the honored designer from Singapore, Nathan Yong. He works for many leading furniture brands in Europe, for example, Living Divani, Opinion Ciatti and Ligne Roset. This specific design called the Parachute pendant lamp comprises of 3 shapes made from steel wire which are sold separately. Not only are they used on their own but also can be combined up to 6 shapes in various ways. Finally the result is a very elegant mixture of Asian artistic and European minimalist.

 

From left: Urban and Macarena pendant lights – Brand: Schema from the Philippines
From left: Urban and Macarena pendant lights – Brand: Schema from the Philippines
Zattelite – Brand: Schema, Designer: Anon Pairot
Zattelite – Brand: Schema, Designer: Anon Pairot
APDS-Lighting-Catalog-TH-2
Spaceship – Brand: Schema, Designer: Anon Pairot

No one can produce the sophisticated look of the metal pendant light shade quite like Schema do. The team of artisans at Schema weaves each galvanized iron wire carefully by hand. Celia Gamboa Jiao is the founder of the brand. She is a designer who has run her business since 1994. The design team consists of Antonio Layug from the Philippines, Anon Pairot from Thailand and Segolene Aebi-Faye from Switzerland.

 

pin01
Metal chandelier by PiN from Thailand

P11_Pin-024-copy  pin_chanderlier

From recycled sheets of metal. Thai designer, Pin Saruta revives this scrap metal and turns it into marvelous metal chandelier. This second generation family business and steel shop is located in Bangkok. That is the beginning of her inspiration to develop this eclectic design. Nowadays, she is one of the talented designers in Thailand who can combine the shape of Thai elements to interior design function.

 

JosephRastrullo

The design of Joseph Rastrullo, the talented designer from the Philippines has created a flexible design method using wire to dictate the hanging lamp size and shape. The shape is simple and clean which give an industrial look. You can use it as a small group of metal chandelier in the center of living room.

 

 

Link

https://www.ligne-roset.com/be/collection/lighting/ceiling-lighting

http://www.schemaproduct.com/

https://www.facebook.com/Pin.metal.life/

https://www.facebook.com/Rastrullo-Design-Studio-1410009629304383/

 

Story: Samutcha  Viraporn

Photos : Press

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