EXTENDED PLAY

The current direction of real-estate development, especially in big cities, has seen the rising popularity of the renovation of old buildings where new functionalities are creatively added in. Such developmental approach is particularly favored by small to medium entrepreneurs and seems to be the implication of the urban inhabitants’ longing for the kind of beauty or ambience that the architecture of the digital age cannot offer or replicate. Nevertheless, several buildings that have gone through such refurbishment are not commercially successful for they are only the products of one replica after another, with no distinctive architectural or spatial characteristics that are appealing and meaningful enough to attract potential users.

But for YELO House: Creative Platform, a project that has Salyawate Prasertwitayakarn, the architect of Atelier of Architects, and his partners in charge of the transformation of an old factory into a public space that accommodates an interesting array of creative activities, this kind of project can wow every architectural buff with a personal obsession for architectural spaces as they relish the beauty of built structures and an ambience that is rarely seen in today’s Bangkok.

YELO House is located in a 15×40 meter old factory in Kasemsan 1 alley within walking distance from the Bangkok Art and Culture Centre (350 meters). Before the renovation, the building served as a printing house and a service area for the maintenance of printing machines. The building’s functional space was divided into two sections, following the narrow orientation of the floor plan. The mezzanine of the west-facing wing is where the machines are kept, and this particular area is exposed to natural light that enters in from the south through the glass of the saw-tooth roof structure. The traces of the steel structure of the rail system where printing machines were once operated can still be seen and, from the canal-front wing to the street-front side, the adaptation of the program’s functionality leaves the area on the mezzanine untouched, granting visitors visual access to the natural quality of light and the sense of space of the old structure. The additional steel structure the design incorporates into the east wing accommodates the program’s new space, which is sub-divided into rooms used for hosting different activities taking place at YELO House.

The majestic characteristic of the building’s structure is powerful enough to attract the attention of the urban crowd but, at the same time, the rather small size and limited functional space, including the outdoor area that isn’t quite big enough to host an actual outdoor activity, could be the downside of the project if we were to look at it from a commercial aspect. But at the end of the day, operating a creative business is about learning and adaptation, so we expect to see a promising evolution of YELO House in the future.