Our clients, a young couple, aimed to turn this tiny 13-room hotel on Mae Phim beach in Rayong Thailand into a trendy, hipster destination.
A new hotel building was added to provide a further 30 guestrooms. The original reception lobby was also completely renovated and new facilities were added, such as all-day dining, a pool bar, fitness center and spa.
The principle design concept was to create a design that
would deliver a satisfying user experience. With a growing trend in the use of
social media across all generations, the main hotel building sought to cater to
and benefit from this.
The entrance and lobby space are designed to form an enormous open space, seven floors (almost 23 meters) high. A dramatic, flowing
staircase links the levels together, providing a striking backdrop for selfies
and social media photos. Sacrificing potential guestroom space in exchange for
this aesthetic area to enhance customer experience was viewed as a fair trade-off.
The design of this entrance area features the use of natural
daylight to highlight the experience of the change in time throughout the day,
as well as reflections from the pool on front of the hotel.
Sharp lines and sloping patterns on the front elevation repeats
itself in the interior and translate to angular features within the building, linking
the play of light and shadow both indoors and outdoors.
Wooden materials were applied throughout the interior of the
new and renovated areas of the hotel, giving the feeling of continuity. Simplified
traditional Thai patterns were added at the owners’ request to create a harmonious
balance between traditional Thai culture and the modern Hipster trend.
Tree Intro Group