SRI PANWA PHUKET
The 40-acre (16-hectare) site of this resort occupies the entire Sri Panwa peninsula, located on Phuket’s southeastern coast.
The tropical contemporary architectural style allowed us to assimilate three important sources of the unique Phuket culture—southern Thai, Chinese, and Portuguese.
The roofs of the resort’s villas are the hip-roof typical of southern Thai architecture, with a deep eaves overhang to deal with the region’s six-month-long rainy season. The eaves are raised slightly along their perimeter to create a typical ‘Thai’ look and express a sense of tenderness. The timber shingles provide a soft color and texture, in harmony with the natural surroundings.
The unique deep orange color theme of the project is derived from local laterite stone. Initially, laterite was mixed into the cement plaster, which created an interesting natural color.
Unfortunately, this became difficult to manage in large quantities and to maintain quality control. Therefore, the subsequent orange color is painted on.
Despite this, you still feel that these buildings have sprung up from the ground and are component parts of the natural surroundings. In addition, an organic texture is created by sweeping the plaster surface with a hard broomstick.
Other than laterite orange, a Mediterranean blue color is applied to the spa area, the so-called ‘Cool Spa.’ This color represents sea, nature, coolness, and relaxation. Reflecting the manual nature of spa therapy, the wall texture in the spa is created by hand plastering. Thatch roofing accentuates this handmade concept.
Sino-Portuguese tile was applied in certain areas by the interior designer to reflect this aspect of Phuket’s cultural heritage. This integration of cultural references is seen again in the multi-colored timber entry gate to the spa, which is perforated in a star pattern.
Upon entering this gate, the guest’s view is of a large serene pond with only a few small buildings in sight.
The pond is the roof of the large three-story spa building below. The retention of existing trees results in the roof pond adopting free-form lines, in harmony with the ocean and islands beyond.
- LocationCape Panwa, Phuket, Thailand
- Date2008
- Interior designerISM Interior Architecture Workshop, Chemistri Design
- Landscape designerCharu–Bhakara, Inside Out Design
