Flow House

Type

Residential
Newly-built

Location

Chiang Mai, Thailand

Year

2024

Size

150 sqm

Status

Completed

Photographer

DOF Sky|Ground

 

Compact and Climate-Conscious: Enhancing Circulation in a Chiang Mai Home

Flow House is located within a housing estate in Chiang Mai, Thailand, and was designed to explore how circulation can harmonize with the tropical climate and surrounding environment while preserving privacy. Presented with an undeveloped plot amid completed properties, the owner envisioned a compact, one-story home that would offer a seamless and comfortable space for herself and her parents to enjoy in retirement.

As architects, our goal is to design a home where every room benefits from full cross-ventilation while maintaining security and a strong connection with the surroundings, especially the garden. This is part of our climate-responsive strategy, taking into account Chiang Mai’s tropical climate to enhance thermal comfort and energy efficiency. In addition, we aimed to design a house façade that blends with the surrounding community, using suitable scale and materials to minimize its visual impact.

During the design process, circulation was identified as a key element in achieving our climate-responsive goal. Since circulation is an inherent feature in all architecture, utilizing this area will result in optimising space without introducing additional areas. The only circulation in this house is designed as a semi-outdoor space, requiring minimal maintenance. By shaping this circulation as a transition between rooms and nature, spatial quality is enhanced while design functionality is preserved.

With this in mind, the main circulation was placed at the centre of the house, running from the front to the back of the property. This straight, linear corridor establishes a gradient of privacy, with increasingly private functions positioned toward the back. In essence, this corridor creates a dynamic interplay between public and private spaces.

Along this pathway, we introduced a central concrete block wall as a key element, providing privacy while allowing air to flow through the blocks. This design enables residents to enjoy fresh air, the visual appeal of concrete blocks, and filtered sunlight while ensuring privacy in the living spaces.

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