AL_A AND VASLAB ARCHITECTURE REPLACED THE TRADITIONAL FAÇADE WITH TERRAZZO WALLS AND FORMED A MYSTERIOUSLY BEAUTIFUL MASS FOR 72 COURTYARD ON THONGLOR.
The legendary modernist architects such as Le Corbusier, Louis I. Kahn or Oscar Niemeyer all tried to create architecture that expresses its own beauty. It revolves around the manifestation of nature’s greatness, the true, powerful and pure architecture that is free from any ornamentation. If you build a concrete building, what you get is a concrete structure, both its strength and beauty. It is the kind of beauty that reflects the truths of nature. It gradually transforms and deteriorates, just like every other thing in the world. Time changes and new materials are developed as new alternatives emerge in the form of glass, aluminum or bricks. The idea of covering the ‘raw’ surface of concrete with these materials is popularized. Not only new buildings, but many pioneering modernist structures have also been ‘re-cladded’ to hide their maturing years and experiences accumulated through time. Architecture, too, goes through the facelift culture where skin is pulled, cut, redecorated, injected with Botox to stay forever young, or at the very least, prolong the days before the truth of nature can no longer be postponed and eventually reveals itself.
72 Courtyard on Thonglor, Photo by Ketsiree Wongwan
Such hype is a sign of a great jump from realism to a more refined beauty and aesthetic. The new subtext of architecture involves the creation of shells used to camouflage or replace the original surface. Traces of nature are immaculately groomed while realistic beauty is substituted by impeccability that shows no indication of maturity in the way that concrete is able to garner through the changing course of time.
Vasu Virajsilp is among those architects who still value the true nature of modernist concrete as is evidenced by many of his past projects. But for 72 Courtyard Thonglor, Bangkok’s latest high-end community mall where Vasu (VasLab) collaborated with Amanda Levete (AL_A) in the development of its design, the difference was made through the use of Precast Terrazzo for the project’s striking façade. The material, which is made of stone remnants and cement, is an interesting alternative to create new possibilities for the use of concrete in architecture. However, for this project, concrete is not employed to express the truth of nature, but as more of a cosmetic element that contributes to the density and enigmatic, yet undaunted quality of an architectural composition.
72 Courtyard on Thonglor, Photo by Ketsiree Wongwan
Terrazzo answers to such requirements with its dark gray finish and expressed solidity. It materializes the project’s main concept by delivering the physicality of a sliced and scooped mass where the void is intended to accommodate a garden with a courtyard on the upper floor. Additionally, the aggregated surface keeps the entire mass from being too dense and smooth.
The return of concrete under the new role and experiment orchestrated by VasLab and AL_A may not be as powerful as those of the modernist architecture of the past, but it does exemplify an attempt to adapt to the changing context of contemporary culture. The design of 72 Courtyard also proves that the evolution of the modernist’s darling material will not end any time soon.
TEXT: PRATARN TEERATADA
vaslabarchitecture.com
ala.uk.com