This was the first project for Raimon Land, a listed Thailand developer, run at that time by Nigel Cornick. There was an immediate recognition that this not only had to be done well, but that the practice needed to show what it was capable of. Nigel’s brief called for an optimisation of the saleable area of the site (14,000 square metres GFA) and 2 and 3-bedroom units. Otherwise, it was a blank slate.
HB Design’s response was to seek a creative alternative to the obvious and simple solution of 4-storey blocks. The solution started with the relatively steep hillside site, 500 metres away from the beach, rising approximately 50 metres up from its lower boundary and with stunning views of the sea from the top.
The strategy was to place less emphasis on the architecture of the 52 units and concentrate on how the units connected with one another and responded to the site. The starting point was the image of an Italian hill town cascading down the slope in a seemingly organic way, growing out of the site rather than imposed on it. A 3D terrain model was developed to determine sunshading, orientation, view optimisation and how to break down the site. This resulted in parcelling the site into bottom, medium and top clusters, a series of paired blocks stepping down the hillside and offset from one another. Compact 2-bedroom units were in the bottom sector, larger units in the middle with 3-bedroom duplex units at the top with the premium views.
At the bottom of the site were swimming pools, spa, a small restaurant and a children’s play area. Then there are green spines, which make their way up the hill, separating the blocks, and acting as pedestrian feeders. These are parkscapes that cascade down the hill and help the assembly of the units appear more random and spontaneous than they actually are.
A central idea was that every unit enjoys absolute privacy. The staggering, also developed using 3D modelling, ensures this and one would need to stand at the balustrade of the terrace to be able to see the neighbour below.
The planning of the units stressed the connection between inside and outside with the terrace becoming a living space and the pool a backdrop, a part of the borrowed landscape. To make one’s way down the slope with the path zig-zagging to connect with the entries to the units, is akin to walking through a hanging tropical garden.
Emerald Hill
EMERALD HILL
The vision for this project was to create an exclusive and intimate residential haven that is grounded in tradition and balance and yet strives for the best of contemporary, urban living.
When investigating the best design for the site a premium was placed on the ability to create an environment of space, privacy and luxury. Building position and orientation were extensively studied in order to ensure unobstructed prime views out from every unit.
The low-rise curved form fulfils the promise of uncompromised views, while at the same time creating a new landmark within the Emerald Hill district. The building was completed in 2011.
*The registered architectural firm in charge of the project was Consortium 168 Architects
Lotus Garden
LOTUS GARDEN
The ten hillside apartments were on the slope and were approached by a driveway working its way up the hill. The apartments were all staggered in a piggy-back concept, whereby each apartment is stacked and set back over the one below. In this way, the timber and glass structures provide both protection and privacy with a small pool on each of the decks.
The plantation apartments are set in an existing rubber estate, with the aim of conserving the plantation as much as possible. This cluster consists of four garden blocks, each consisting of two ground floor, single level 2-bedroom units, and two 3-bedroom duplex units. Entry to the units is by a central, open staircase, going up one flight to reach the lower level of the 2-storey duplexes. A timber box contains all the bedrooms, while on either side of this box are double-height spaces which lead up to the living/dining spaces from where the ocean can be seen. These apartments provide large, open living areas and generous terraces and are set within a luxuriant landscape. The stepped profile of Lotus Gardens set a precedent for the next multi-residential project in Phuket, The Heights.
Site Section
Site Plan
Marvel Aurum
MARVEL AURUM
This relatively small condominium is the third project for Marvel Realtors, but the first residential. It is in Koregaon Park, the prime old colonial neighbourhood in the north-east of Pune and consists of 12 storeys with three large 3.5 and 4-bedroom units per floor. The typical floorplan has been organised into distinct structural bays with the living and dining areas sandwiched between the main bedroom wing and the kitchen/core wing. This ‘slicing’ of the building creates the impression of nine vertical towers, lending character to the façade.
The project addresses the challenge of building in this environment with its intense light and heat, and its distinctive cultural identity. By alternating the double-height terraces, cross-ventilation is optimised while maintaining privacy. But it is the aluminium screens cladding the bedroom blocks, which epitomise HB Design’s response. These are functional in the way they provide privacy and filter light. But they also animate the façade and provide an aesthetic dimension, casting delicate shadows into the interiors, while transforming the building into a lantern when viewed from outside at night. The aluminium screens, perforated with flower patterns, also represent a placemaking strategy because they reference the traditional carved stone jali screens which serve the same functions. The screens are operable, allowing control of light and selective editing of views.
The layering, which the screens provide is amplified by the large 45 square metre, double-height terraces which extend the living experience from the double-height living/dining spaces to the outside. Each terrace provides a protective canopy to the terrace below and features a small jacuzzi at the front.
Typical Odd Floor Plan
Typical Even Floor Plan
Marvel Fuego
MARVEL FUEGO
Marvel Fuego is an elegant interpretation of a simple, centre core office building. The building appears carved into four distinct tectonic volumes which defines the dynamic spatial voids for the main lobbies, sky gardens and roof terraces.
The creative use of available space also provides a range of recreational facilities that offer a fitting change from daily work.
Marvel Fuego houses numerous offices, a few of which come with attached terraces, so you have the option of working indoor or outdoor, depending on your frame of mind at that moment.
A rooftop restaurant and bar with an attached terrace means you get to break away from work and give your mind a chance to unleash itself in ways that you never imagined possible.
Floorplates are kept to a shallow depth ensuring that all areas can be naturally lit. Marvel Fuego is designed to provide compact offices, most with column free tenancies.
The Heights
THE HEIGHTS
This was the first project for Raimon Land, a listed Thailand developer, run at that time by Nigel Cornick. There was an immediate recognition that this not only had to be done well, but that the practice needed to show what it was capable of. Nigel’s brief called for an optimisation of the saleable area of the site (14,000 square metres GFA) and 2 and 3-bedroom units. Otherwise, it was a blank slate.
HB Design’s response was to seek a creative alternative to the obvious and simple solution of 4-storey blocks. The solution started with the relatively steep hillside site, 500 metres away from the beach, rising approximately 50 metres up from its lower boundary and with stunning views of the sea from the top.
The strategy was to place less emphasis on the architecture of the 52 units and concentrate on how the units connected with one another and responded to the site. The starting point was the image of an Italian hill town cascading down the slope in a seemingly organic way, growing out of the site rather than imposed on it. A 3D terrain model was developed to determine sunshading, orientation, view optimisation and how to break down the site. This resulted in parcelling the site into bottom, medium and top clusters, a series of paired blocks stepping down the hillside and offset from one another. Compact 2-bedroom units were in the bottom sector, larger units in the middle with 3-bedroom duplex units at the top with the premium views.
At the bottom of the site were swimming pools, spa, a small restaurant and a children’s play area. Then there are green spines, which make their way up the hill, separating the blocks, and acting as pedestrian feeders. These are parkscapes that cascade down the hill and help the assembly of the units appear more random and spontaneous than they actually are.
A central idea was that every unit enjoys absolute privacy. The staggering, also developed using 3D modelling, ensures this and one would need to stand at the balustrade of the terrace to be able to see the neighbour below.
The planning of the units stressed the connection between inside and outside with the terrace becoming a living space and the pool a backdrop, a part of the borrowed landscape. To make one’s way down the slope with the path zig-zagging to connect with the entries to the units, is akin to walking through a hanging tropical garden.
Site Plan
Site Section
Detail Section
The Lofts Ekkamai
THE LOFT EKKAMAI
This residential tower on a small site is closely aligned to the cultural character of the area. It is a precinct popular among young people, close to a BTS train station and with a lively restaurant and retail presence. The target demographic is very much the double-income, young urbanite couple just starting in the real estate market. Hence, there was no need for large kitchens or dining spaces. The concept was for well-planned, compact, loft-style apartments. The 20-storey development consists of studios and one-and two-bedroom apartments. It also includes exciting duplex apartments offering 6 metre high living spaces, a kitchenette, mezzanine and delightful spatial variety within a mere 45 square metres. All the apartments come with compact balconies.
The common facilities are all located on the roof terrace, which commands fantastic views out over the city. Here tenants can enjoy the pool, gym, spa and entertainment areas. The parking podium, a result of a non-basement policy, provides a welcome green relief being covered in a two-tone ‘green wall’ cladding system.
Section
Floor Plan
Centara Grand
CENTARA GRAND
This project consists of two ultra-modern towers of 40 and 47 storeys. It is a 282-unit residential development which offers spectacular 180 deg views towards Pattaya Bay to the north-west, and Jomtien Bay to the south-east.
The buildings are clad with full height glazing with expressed horizontal fins, articulated with the appropriate arrangements of duplexes and balconies to create an interesting façade. Exclusive amenities like gymnasium, spa and swimming pools are provided at the sky gardens at mid- level.
At the podium the approach to the lobbies is via elevated walkways with views towards the beach gradually unfolding, enhanced by the rich tropical landscape.
Marvel Kyra
MARVEL KYRA
This is the first high-rise project for developer Marvel Realtors located in a part of Pune where the customary 12-storey height limit is not applicable. Three thin, connected 30-storey towers represent a premium development highlighting several ongoing themes in the work of HB Design. The idea of houses in the sky combines with the democratisation of the high-rise, to provide the amenity of a landed house with the benefits of community.
The towers have a strong graphic presence. Texture is created by a counterpoint of screening, extruded balconies and voids. The façade is equally graphic, a decisive composition of vertical and horizontal elements. This simplifies the appearance but, through the blade walls and vertical sunscreening louvres, also mitigates solar exposure.
Each of the units has a private lift lobby which leads directly into the apartment through a generous foyer. Long corridors are avoided by straddling the living and dining areas on either side with the bedrooms. The kitchen and maids area is designed to have direct access to the core, allowing domestic staff to come and go without passing through the house.
The large 4-bedroom, 400 square metre apartments with their expansive 5 x 7 metre deeply recessed terraces and pools create the experience of living in a house rather than an apartment. The double-storey terraces are achieved by mirroring the apartments. This also generates cross-ventilation which, with the bedroom sunscreens, effectively solar-proofs the units. Additional private amenities include a spa, a jacuzzi and a treatment room as part of the master bedroom.
Two sky terraces connect the towers and house common facilities. One, with spa and gym, is for lifestyle and wellness, the other an entertainment zone with function room, library and children’s area. These common amenities contribute to the high-rise community experience, complementing the private ‘house-in-the-sky’ experience.
Floor Plan
Northpoint
NORTHPOINT
This twin-tower condominium set a new benchmark for residential development in Pattaya not just for its quality and the high level of return for its developer, but also for establishing right at the beginning the twin principles of humanising and democratising the high-rise.
Pattaya is a resort destination just one-and-a-half hours from Bangkok and the site was at the northern end of the main Pattaya beachfront road. The oceanfront plot had no height or GFA limit, but allowed only 30,000 square meters per building and required a big setback which was used to create a large garden. A helicam study provided a good sense of the context. This was built into a 3D model which demonstrated the magnificent views north and south across Pattaya Bay. The decision was made to build two single-loaded corridor towers – one at 54 storeys facing Pattaya Bay, the other at 46 storeys facing bays to the north – ensuring that every unit would have a good view. This, together with the fact that the views could never be blocked, resulted in all the units being sold quickly off-plan for the highest prices ever paid in Pattaya. This win-win solution was a testament to understanding where the developer was coming from and speaking the same language while generating a quality design outcome and quality amenity for buyers.
The façade is conceived as a series of units that express themselves like pigeon holes. Double-height duplex units are on the corners of the buildings, separated by a blade wall from the other units. In the top third of the towers is a sky terrace with pool, plunge pool, gym and spa, available to all units.
Another key aspect to the project was its in-built flexibility. All the service elements (kitchens and bathrooms) were placed along the corridor wall. The main risers were on the other side of the corridor. A change of floor plan means that the unit risers can be re-located to suit. This flexibility has two aspects. One is to do with what is offered, allowing customers to choose where in the building they wanted to live, while also offering a mix-and-match selection to the marketing team providing a variety of unit types in a variety of locations. The other aspect is the flexibility to adapt to changing market requirements between when the project was launched and closer to the time of completion. This involved being able to make last minute changes to lay-outs before partitions had gone in, but with the quantum remaining the same.
Northpoint was an affirmation of design as a means to ‘surprise and delight’ Two towers, oriented north and south respectively, with single-loaded corridors ensured that all the units shared equally in the beauty of the site. The corner-sited double-height duplexes provided a new dimension of choice, along with the in-built flexibility of the planning. Together, these creative solutions signalled a new typology in high-rise multi-residential design.
WALK THROUGH
Section
Site Plan
3D Model
AWARDS
Best Condo Development Eastern Seaboard
Thailand Property Awards 2010
Best Condo Development Eastern Seaboard
Thailand Property Awards 2008
Unixx
UNIXX
Located on a hillside with a panoramic view of Jomtien and Pattaya Bays, this condominium offers urban resort lifestyle with small extremely efficient unit plans. The main axis of the building aligns the best views to most units, while the highly efficient L-shape floor plan keeps construction costs to a minimum.
The total development consists of over 1100 units with extensive landscape and amenity areas and is targeted at mid level buyers who are seeking an affordable holiday home.