Project: Amoon on the Mekong
Posted By Alec on May 22, 2011
I have not blogged about this project before, however it is one that we have been working on for over a year, now. I enjoy all of our design and construction projects, but this one has been particularly thrilling to have been a part of so far. ”Amoon on the Mekong” will be a luxury guest house in an idyllic setting amongst 13 Rai (5 Acres) of mature trees on the banks of the Mekong River, backed by the rolling hills of Sangkhom and enjoying wonderful views across the river to Laos.
When we were first approached, the design project was well underway. Our client had already been working with an architect in Australia for a number of years developing an architectural concept. This concept has remained largely unchanged, so I can not take credit for all of the architectural design, however we have worked with the client to make tweaks and alterations to achieve a final design. We also carried out all of the necessary structural analysis, electrical and plumbing engineering work to produce all of the necessary construction drawings and documentation.
We are still working with the client to look at additional potential refinements to the final design. The construction phase of the project is due for completion before December 2012.
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Tags: architecture, Guest House Design, hotel design, Khon Kaen, Laos, Nong Khai, Sangkhom, Structural Engineering, Thailand, Udon Thani, Vientiane
Project: Modern Style 2 Bedroom 1 Storey Home (Nong Kom Ko)
Posted By Alec on May 17, 2011
We are now up to the roof level with the concrete structure of the modern two bedroom home project. The next stage is to add in the precast concrete slabs for the floor and the roof structure.
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Tags: Architect, Home builder, house design, Isaan, Khon Kaen, Laos, Nong Khai, Structural Engineer, Thailand, Udon Thani, Vientiane
Project: Modern Style 2 Bedroom 1 Storey Home (Nong Kom Ko)
Posted By Alec on May 5, 2011
This morning, the site received its official ‘blessing’ in a traditional Buddhist ceremony, so construction can begin. We have now begun pouring the footings and setting the steel column reinforcement structures in place. Meanwhile, some staff are also preparing the steel beam reinforcement structures. Ready for installation over the coming days.
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Tags: architecture, construction, Home Design, House Builder, Laos, NKD Construction, Nong Khai, Nong Khai Design, Structural Engineering, Thailand, Udon Thani, Vientiane
Project: Modern Style 2 Bedroom 1 Storey Home (Nong Kom Ko)
Posted By Alec on April 30, 2011
We attempted to excavate the footings for our latest project a couple of days ago….. unfortunately, we encountered a rocky seam about half a meter down full of huge rocks that proved to be too much of a challenge for the small excavator that we were using. The reason for initially using a small excavator is that it produces much neater holes that require less manual ‘dressing’ prior to pouring the concrete footings. Today we are continuing with a larger excavator that is more up to the task of removing the large rocks!
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Tags: architecture, Excavation, Footings, Home Design, House Builder, Khon Kaen, Laso, Nong Khai, Structural Engineering, Thailand, Udon Thani, Vientiane
Project: Modern Style 2 Bedroom 1 Storey Home (Nong Kom Ko)
Posted By Alec on April 27, 2011
In January I posted images of a concept for a modern style two bedroom home. Since then, we have worked with the client to develop this concept into a final design and a full set of engineering drawings. Planning permission has now been granted and today we began clearing the plot of land and marking it out for construction. The lucky Buddhist day for the first columns to be erected is 4th May. Between now and then we shall be digging the footings and preparing all of the column reinforcement structures.
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Tags: 2 Bedroom, architecture, construction, Home Design, House Builder, Khon Kaen, Laos, Modern Home, Nong Khai, Structural Engineering, Thailand, Udon Thani, Vientiane
Project: Thip Thani - 4 Bedroom Home
Posted By Alec on April 26, 2011
Today we completed the initial concrete structural framework of our latest project in Thip Thani, and began work on the steel roof structure. We are now awaiting delivery of the precast concrete floor slabs, and will begin the block work.
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Tags: architecture, construction, Home Design, Hous eBuilder, Khon Kaen, Laos, Nong Khai, Structural Engineering, THip Thani, Udon Thani, Vientiane
Project: Other Projects
Posted By Alec on April 25, 2011
We recently completed the design of a low cost 2 bedroom house in a 1.5 storey configuration for a customer who has his own construction team ready to build for him. He came with a basic idea of the style of home he wanted and we developed this into a floor plan and exterior in keeping with this style.
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Tags: architecture, construction, Home Design, House Builder, Khon Kaen, Laos, Nong Khai, Thailand, Udon Thani, Vientiane
Project: Fao Rai - 2 Bedroom Home
Posted By Alec on March 24, 2011
We have now completely tiled the floor of the house and covered the floor with a layer of cardboard to protect the tiles whilst we complete the rest of the interior work. We are also in the process of installing all of the windows and fitting out the bathrooms. The granite for the kitchen counter top is due to de delivered and fitted by Monday, which will then allow us to complete the tiling and fitting of the kitchen cabinets and appliances. We have applied an undercoat and are now awaiting top coats of paint.
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Tags: 2 Bedroom Home, Architect, Budget Home, Bungalow, Fao Rai, Home Construction, House Builder, Khon Kaen, Laos, Low Cost Home, Nong Khai, Phon Phisai, Structural Engineering, Udon Thani, Vientiane
Project: Thip Thani - 4 Bedroom Home
Posted By Alec on March 8, 2011
Having marked out the site, we broke ground on our latest project in Thip Thani late yesterday afternoon. Often the footings would be dug by hand, but the scale of the task on this project required a mechanical solution! By 11pm all of the footings and the large hole for the basement had been excavated. Today, we are busy preparing the holes ensuring that the precise size and depth of each is correct.
Yesterday, we also took delivery of a large quantity of re-bar, so today some of our team are now preparing the footing, column and beam reinforcement structures etc..
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Tags: architecture, construction, Excavation, House Builder, house design, Isaan, Laos, Nong Khai, Structural Engineering, Thailand, Udon Thani, Vientiane
Project: Fao Rai - 2 Bedroom Home
Posted By Alec on March 2, 2011
The roof is no complete, as is all of the main interior and exterior wall rendering. On the exterior, we are now adding the architectural detailing to the house and adding the four staircases. Inside we are beginning the wiring and ceiling work.
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Tags: Architect, construction, Home builder, house design, Isaan, Laos, Nong Khai, Phon Phisai, Structural Engineer, Thailand, Udon Thani, Vientiane
Project: Fao Rai - 2 Bedroom Home
Posted By Alec on February 9, 2011
The main roof frame has now been added to the house and the tile mounting spars are being added. The roof tiles are due to be delivered in two days. Most of the initial block work is completed and we shall be starting to render the walls in the next couple of days so within a week the house will begin to take shape.
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Tags: architecture, Fao Rai, Home Construction, House Builder, house design, Isaan, Laos, Nong Khai, Phon Phisai, Structural Engineering, Thailand, Vientiane
Project: Fao Rai - 2 Bedroom Home
Posted By Alec on February 3, 2011
We have finished casting of all of the columns and beams. The floor slab has now been poured. In this case we used pre-cast concrete slabs over which was laid a steel mesh. A layer of concrete was then poured over the tope of this. This method is much quicker than adding in supports and shuttering and then pouring one thick concrete slab. Most of the walls have also now been built. Due to budget constraints with this project, we are using standard blocks, rather than the thermally insulating blocks that we have used on other projects.
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Tags: Architect, Fao Rai, Home Construction, Home Design, House Bulder, Khon Kaen, Laos, Nong Khai, Phon Phisai, Structural Engineer, Udon Thani, Vientiane
Project: Modern Style 2 Bedroom 1 Storey Home (Nong Kom Ko)
Posted By Alec on January 30, 2011
I have just completed the initial concept for a new modern style 128sq.m. single storey 2 bedroom home.
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Tags: Architect, Bungalow, House Builder, house design, Isaan, Khon Kaen, Laos, Nong Khai, Structural Engineer, Thailand, Two Bedroom, Udon Thani, Vientiane
Project: Fao Rai - 2 Bedroom Home
Posted By Alec on January 25, 2011
We have been continuing preparations for the casting of the main floor beams in a couple of days by adding all of the shuttering around the steel beam reinforcement structure.
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Tags: architecture, Fao Rai, Home Construction, House Builder, Khon Kaen, Laos, Nong Khai, Phon Phisai, Project Management, Structural Engineering, Thailand, Udon Thani, Vientiane
Project: Other Projects
Posted By Alec on January 24, 2011
The owner of a travel agent in Nong Khai asked us to help them with a problem they were having with their office. The problem was that the office was becoming unbearably hot as it had a glass curtain wall frontage and also large windows at the side. Sun streamed in all through the day. Adding blinds inside had not helped as although it blocked out the glare of the sun, it did not stop the office temperature increasing, cause by the sun heating up the air in the gap between the inside of the window and the blind. Whilst they had air conditioning fitted that should have been the correct power for the size of the office, it did not account for the excessive heat that can build up in such a glass box! The problem had become so bad that they had resorted to leaving the security shutters down for most of the time. The problem with this was that passers by then thought that the office was not open!
My solution was to provide a physical barrier to protect the office from the sun. First we applied a sheet of adhesive material to the window that allows you to see out of from the inside, but blocks much of the light coming in. I also designed and printed some sections of this material to promote some of the world destinations that the travel agent offers packages to. I then designed a series of solid facia board constructed from a combination of wood, stainless steel and plastic that incorporated the company logo to be mounted outside the window as another physical barrier to the heat of the sun. These facia boards are all removable from the frame to which they are mounted to allow for cleaning of the windows behind them. The large white board actually has a hinged glass front in a stainless steel frame and can be opened up to allow posters to be displayed detailing the latest promotions on offer by the travel agent. Everything that was installed fits between the window and the existing security shutters so that it is protected when the office is closed at night.
We completed all work with this small project a little over a week ago and are happy to report that it has solved the problem…. the office is now cool and airy, and passers by never miss the office because not only are the security shutters open all day, but the company also has a greatly increased street presence as a result of the new signage.
Here is the office as it was, the CAD concept that was presented, and the final result.
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Tags: Architect, Graphic Design, Isaan, Khon Kaen, Nong Khai, Office Remodelling, Office Renovation, Structural Engineering, Thailand, Udon Thani, Vientiane
Project: Fao Rai - 2 Bedroom Home
Posted By Alec on January 24, 2011
We broke ground on our 2 bedroom house project in Fao Rai on 16th January. On 18th Jan we poured the concrete footings. We then prepared the formwork for the first stage columns, which were poured on 22nd Jan. Yesterday we began to prepare the wooden structure that will support the main beam formwork. The beams are due to be poured on 27th January.
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Tags: Architect, Fao Rai, Home Constr, Hous eBuilder, House Desuction, ign, Khon Kaen, Laso, Nong Khai, Phon Phisai, Structural Engineer, Udon Thani, Vientiane
Project: Modern Office Renovation
Posted By Alec on January 13, 2011
We have now completed all of the exterior construction for the modern office renovation project and have now turned our attention to the interior, starting with installing the suspended gypsum board ceiling.
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Tags: architecture, Commercial roperty, construction, house design, Isaan, Khon Kaen, Laos, Nong Khai, Office Design, Redesign, Remodelling, Renovation, Structural Engineering, Udon Thani, Vientiane
Project: Fao Rai - 2 Bedroom Home
Posted By Alec on January 12, 2011
I have just finished the design of a low cost two bedroom single storey home for a client near Fao Rai, Phon Phisai.
The home is entered via some steps leading up to a covered porch and features a relatively large open plan living / dining room and kitchen area. This leads on to a large covered deck at the rear. There is also another covered area for an outside laundry just off from the kitchen area.
The master bedroom has a very large walk-in closet and an en-suite bathroom. Unusually, at the clients request, the en-suite bathroom then leads on to a walled open-air shower room. There is then a guest bedroom with built in closet and a second bathroom.
We shall be starting construction of this home within the next week, with a scheduled completion date of around the end of May this year. Check back here for updates on the progress of this build.
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Tags: architecture, Fao Rai, Home Construction, House Builder, house design, Isaan, Khon Kaen, Laos, Nong Khai, Phon Phisai, Structural Engineering, Thailand, Udon Thani, Vientiane
Project: Thip Thani Project 2
Posted By Alec on January 12, 2011
We completed our second project in Thip Thani in december of last year and handed the keys over to a happy customer, just in time to move in for Christmas.
A client can have as much or as little involvement as they wish with the design of their home. Some like to leave all of the decisions to the designer, whilst some have a very clear idea in their mind of the look they are trying to achieve. With this property, it was a mixture of the two cases in that I was responsible for the exterior design, and the client made all of the interior styling choices around a layout that I had provided. The project was carried out on a fixed price bases, with a set budget for things such as tiles, paint, granite counter tops etc… Our client then chose the interior finishes receiving a rebate if under budget and paying an excess if over the allowed budget. This suited him as it meant he was able to chose exactly what he wanted and also allowed him to find his own savings on certain things and then use that to upgrade on other features.
We had originally bought the land for development and the contract we had with the client was for the land and for the design and construction of the home. Garden landscaping was not something that was covered in this case as it was something that the client wanted to undertake, allowing himself time to live in the property and develop the garden over time to suit him.
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Tags: architecture, construction, Home Design, House Builder, Isaan, Khon Kaen, Laos, Nong Khai, Structural Engineering, Thailand, Udon Thani, Vientiane
Project: Other Projects
Posted By Alec on January 12, 2011
We were recently asked to design the frontage for a new build electronic goods showroom which is soon to open in Vientiane, Laos. The main structure of the building had already been erected and work was ongoing. Whilst some exterior detailing in place, it was not to the owners taste. My brief was to provide a bold, modern and colourful frontage design to add to the existing structure.
Here is the structure of the building that I had to design around.
The design that I provided was largely inspired by the work of the Dutch artist Piet Mondrian, which seemed to fit perfectly with the clean lines, modern and colourful design that I had been asked to provide. The large area of white space at the top of the building and above the ground floor is intended for signage.
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Tags: Architectural Design, architecture, Commercial Building, Isaan, Khon Kaen, Laos, Nong Khai, Renovation, Structural Engineering, Thailand, Udon Thani, Vientiane
