Housed inside two standard Bangkok shophouses which are the most common type of construction in the city, consisting of a five-metre wide, ten-metre deep, four-storey high terraced building with the ground floor featuring a double volume with a mezzanine. These concrete shells all have the same layout, dimensions, proportions and materials, with all the shops inside
Spa inside a Shophouse in Bangkok. Colours, light and fabrics for the double volume
Space Popolar has designed a spa in a Thai shophouse in Bangkok, a typical terraced building with a double volume ground floor and mezzanine. Inside, pastel colours, light and fabrics create a fresh and welcoming design
The aim was to visually eliminate the shell with the use of a few materials, paint, light and textiles and focus attention on the design and the custom designed furniture would communicate purpose in an otherwise anonymous space
With a few exceptions in the entrance hall, all the floors are painted white, as are all the walls and ceilings. All these surfaces form a neutral luminous backdrop to an abstract interior without a single opening to the outside where the curtain is the only element looking outwards making the boundaries of this white concrete box ambiguous and giving a sense of ethereal reality
What began as a technical necessity for absolute control of light and temperature for spa treatments has become the experiential guide. The lack of architectural features allows the eye to move from object to object seamlessly. These objects are in extreme contrast to the background: while the space is monochrome, white, soft and structured, the objects have a high polychrome with smooth materials such as metal, marble and leather
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