AWARDS
2020
JB House is an architecture that not only supports everyday life’s needs, but also enhances the user’s relationship by creating the new possibility of spaces, programs, or activities simultaneously. The house reflects the life of a couple who plans to have no child. Each user has one’s own little world and a different lifestyle. While the two lives have a different routine, the architect designed a common space at the heart of the house to be a place where both can see each other during the day. He loves taking photographs and baking. She is a book lover and has a passion for drawing. His main activity revolves around the kitchen island, while her works in the publishing field require a large working table for reading and writing. So, the role of the architects finds its place in gathering all requirements and reformulating them into a lively concept of design.
The architects separated the two main activity areas on two floors, due to the limitation of construction cost and the land area’s availability. The woman takes the upper level while the man gets the lower level. The common ground of the two lives takes place at the center of the house. The spaces of the kitchen island and the working table are stacked up at the same location, creating an interlocking element that ties the whole house together. The top of the woman’s working table on the upper floor is made of a large sheet of glass, which creates a visual connection to the kitchen island on the lower floor. The upper level is designed to have three connecting steps whose angle serves as visual protection to block then arrival guests from gazing it directly. A stripe glass window between each step allows only the owners to keep in touch privately while doing their activities.
All areas on the upper floor are covered with double wood screens, which could be opened or closed for privacy and heat protection. The design also provided a gap between those openings in case of maintenance. The long rows of the bookshelves for the book lover are integrated directly into the design of the most walls on the upper floor. The skylights lighten up the walkway along the shelves. The design clearly expresses the belief that architecture affects the users’ behavior, which can shift up the relationship and support the emotional connection between the couple or inhabitants. So, the designed facilities and spaces were conceived to be a place where the couple can share common ground, and the intimate relationship can keep a delicate balance with the nature of the individual at the same time.
NAKHON PHATHOM, THAILAND
DESIGN : 2014 / COMPLETION : 2017
ARCHITECT : IDIN ARCHITECTS
PHOTOGRAPHER : KETSIREE WONGWAN
AREA : 127 SQ.M.