A Thailand beach house worthy of MTV Cribs

Text by Yen Kien Hang

At Chaam – a district in the southern part of Phetchaburi province, western Thailand – one might pass by the PK24 Beach House if it were not for its “surfboard-inspired” front door. In fact, within the rows of similar white facades and double balconies, this townhouse’s anonymity is probably desired by its uber-famous owner: Pongkool Suebsung. Nicknamed Pop, Suebsung is one of Thailand’s most popular artists. For his second home in this beach town, the design brief has been to reflect on its location while maintaining a sense of his sunny and vibrant personality.

This is where FLAT12x comes in. With a philosophy of “designing every project as the self-portrait for the owners of the projects,” as explained by Architectural Director Julsamano Bhongsatiern (AKA Jules), “the new design had to bring in natural materials and beach colour schemes to provide the sense of a vacation mood.” Not only that, the 30-year-old house also needed to be renovated entirely to resolve a lot of issues, particularly the stairs and the restrooms.

“One challenge we faced was to bring a large open-plan living area into the ground floor where the area was limited. At the same time, all the utilitarian functions, like the toilet, had to be reallocated to create more living space while the stairs had to be reconfigured to blend in the back and front of the house,” says Jules, who was also handed a tight timeline of just six months to complete this project.

Now, as soon as you open the large double door, you will immediately feel the home’s welcoming vibe. With a galley kitchen that leads your eyes straight to the back of the house, the ground floor looks spacious and is loaded with all the amenities that the owner needs. Kitchen with a cantilevered island for seating? Checked. Living room with an L-shaped sofa for relaxing and watching TV? Checked. Dining room with sufficient lighting, cactus plant life and a 10 metre-long L-shaped low cabinet for storage? Triple checked. Not to mention, there’s also an outdoor showering area, a smoking area, and a wash basin counter for barbecue. What more could you ask for?

One of the brilliant design ideas here is the glass roof that was added to cover the dining room extension. Since the shape of the ground floor is much longer, bringing in natural light is super important. Hence, including a glass roof here in a no-brainer to obtain natural light and a sense of the outdoors. But one might wonder: Wouldn’t it be hot inside due to direct sunlight? To which Jules points out: “Actually, the internal temperature here can be ventilated by all the large windows and sliding doors included in the semi-outdoor space to the right side of the house.” Of course, it might not be hard to spot the air-conditioning unit on the ceiling too.

On the second floor, the front room is used as a guest living space, which includes double sofa beds to provide a place to sit and chat, while in the evening it can be transformed into a temporary bedroom. The room is set in a sunset colour scheme with burgundy tiles and sandy steel partitions. At the opposite end of this space is another guest bedroom, which is painted in two tones, blue and off-white, to represent the sea and sand that’s just a mere distance from the house.

The third floor is solely dedicated to the master bedroom. Again with an open-plan design, the highlight here is undoubtedly the green tile cladded ceiling and bathroom walls that create a connection between the inside and the outside of the house. This deep ocean-like colour and texture is quite the contrast with the white yet equally stunning curved and elevated platform which accommodates a king-size bed. Waking up here with a view overlooking the sea certainly has a luxurious feel of a five-star hotel.