Tamarind Bistro and Music House, Chiang Rai – Thailand

Tamarind bistro and music house is the renovation of 2 old wooden houses with over 50 years old , which is located in Chiangrai, to be desirable location at a various times by selecting it to be the cafe & restaurant in the middle of the day and a music house at night.
The challenge of the design is to use less of the construction’s budget with the best value and can change the aspect of Chiangrai people that still familiar with a scary old wooden houses into an interesting area , as well as being able to bring a group of people with various ages to efficiency use the area since the original area was an old wooden building with over 50 years old , causing the internal and external conditions quite shabby and decay over the time .
After gathering the original building ‘s detail and examining the structure that can be kept and used again, the architect designed by trying to bring out the identity that is in the area. The highlight of this area os the wooden house and a large tree that has a long life with a beautiful shape that provides shade to the area is the key to the design with a variety of applications throughout the day . The designers tried to connect the inside and outside spaces to reduce the opacity of the building.
The inside space is made from the use of a solid wood throughout the wall and there’s a small amount of light, which it mustn’t cause any change from the original structure. Begin by copying the original building’s style to reorganize , choose to use the existing building frame and keep the old light way pattern as much as possible , and use the effect of the tree in the different styles to use it in the design. We therefore look for the translucent materials to decorate so that the effect of shadows , reflection from the tree can link to the exterior and interior of the building and also increasing the interest of the building in the various moments through lighting.
Beginning with the inserting a translucent modern materials into the building frame at various points. Removing the top of the wall and keep the wall frame with the original opening, changing the materials from the old wooden wall to the scales flake polycarbonate sheet, cut into the same size as the original one, Install the old wall wheel pattern same as the installation of wooden wall along the original building and choose to use clear glass blocks to form the below building. Aside from these materials can be founded in the area with affordable price, it also helps to make the opaque building to be more translucent, able to use a natural light inside the building by the construction method is also friendly to the local technicians as well.
The courtyard between the 2 buildings uses a landscape to surround the courtyard in the middle of the tree to connect the space between the building , creating a dining area of the the restaurant under the shade of the beautiful tree. The overall building can add much more interest of the area without being different from the surrounding, meet the demand of the building’s change with the efficiency budget.