Basecamp Trail Provision | Photo: Chaiyaporn Sodabunlu PHOTO COURTESY OF HOUSESCAPE DESIGN LAB EXCEPT AS NOTED
(For Thai, press here)
WHO
Housescape Design Lab by Peerapong Promchart, Thiprada Jindatum and Wachira Pakkla.
WHAT
A design studio born from our conversation about theories of spatial design and experimentation on the potential possibilities of materials.
Basecamp Trail Provision | Photo: Chaiyaporn Sodabunlu
WHERE
Housescape Design Lab is a local design firm and we’re based in Chiang Mai.
WHEN
We started off as Punsatha & Son seven years ago before we changed our name to Housescape Design Lab because we wanted it to be easier to remember. Apparently, the new name is even longer than the old one. But that’s fine. What’s done is done.
WHY
We start every project with a simple question, “How to design for Citizens?”
HOW WOULD YOU DEFINE CREATIVITY?
“Buildings of this technological age usually deliberately aim at achieving ageless perfection, and they do not incorporate the dimension of time, or the unavoidable and mentally significant processes of aging. This fear of the traces of wear and age is related to our fear of death.”
Juhani Pallasmaa, “The eyes of the skin : Architecture and the Senses” (p.32).
Basecamp Trail Provision | Photo: Chaiyaporn Sodabunlu
Basecamp Trail Provision | Photo: Chaiyaporn Sodabunlu
DESCRIBE YOUR PRACTICE IN THREE WORDS
Whether it’s the beginning, the middle or the end of the design process, there will always be ’empathy’ because ‘citizens’ are our priority.
WHERE DO YOU GO, OR WHAT DO YOU DO WHEN YOU GET STUCK ON A PROJECT?
Our office is right at the foot of Doi Suthep Mountain so whenever we have a creative block, we can just go out the door and into the forest. It’s also our day off activity anyway.
Basecamp Trail Provision
WHAT PROJECT ARE YOU MOST PROUD OF?
The latest project we just worked on, perhaps, the Basecamp Trail Provision Headquarter, because we got to experiment on every aspect of design. We communicated through empty spaces, incorporating ordinary materials to tell new stories, and then there’s the commercial value that the owner has in return as well. Everything about this project indicates how important research methodology is to design.
Basecamp Trail Provision
IF YOU COULD INVITE ANY CREATIVE OUT FOR COFFEE, WHO WOULD YOU CHOOSE AND WHY?
If you consider everyone to be a creator, I would love to invite someone who looks at and understands the world with logic and reasoning like Sir Isac Newton. Perhaps I want to listen to the conversation between him and someone who keeps a watchful eye on society like Karl Marx. I want to hear them talk about mundane everyday things from their own thoughts and perspectives.