Thailand's first prize winner, 'Seamless Living, Every Stage of Life' by Jinjuta Chomputsa EXPLORE THE CONCEPTS THROUGH THREE AWARD-WINNING DESIGNS FROM THE THREE WINNERS OF THE AMERICAN STANDARD DESIGN AWARD 2026, UNDER THE THEME ‘INSPIRING EVERYDAY LIVING’
TEXT: NATHATAI TANGCHADAKORN
PHOTO: KETSIREE WONGWAN
(For Thai, press here)
The American Standard Design Award (ASDA) returns as the brand celebrates its 150th anniversary under the theme ’Inspiring Everyday Living.’ After the 2024 brief looked beyond the domestic realm, the focus now shifts back home, to a space shaped by some of our most habitual and intimate routines.
“This year, we invited aspiring designers to reflect on how the bathroom can address our evolving needs and become a meaningful extension of how we live, connect and feel,” said Antoine Besseyre des Horts, Leader, LIXIL Global Design, Asia, outlining the central design premise behind this year’s competition.
The atmosphere at the ASDA 2026 Awards ceremony in Thailand.
ASDA 2026 is open to full-time undergraduate students studying architecture or interior design in Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar. This focus on evolving everyday living inspired strong participation from emerging designers, attracting over 2,000 registrants across the Asia-Pacific region.
In keeping with the established format of ASDA, each national winner advances to the regional stage, where the finalists compete for the title of Asia-Pacific Grand Prize Winner. This year, that distinction went to Patricia Danielle Malijan of the Philippines for The Humble Home: Quiet Simplicity, which emerged as the winning proposal among the national finalists.
The Humble Home: Quiet Simplicity, Asia-Pacific Grand Prize Winner by Patricia Danielle Malijan (Philippines)
For Thailand, the top prize went to Seamless Living, Every Stage of Life by Jinjuta Chomputsa of Chulalongkorn University. First runner-up was Glow to Inspire Everyday by Pornnapat Tana, also from Chulalongkorn University, while second runner-up went to Harmonic Resonance – Rhythm of Nature, Rhythm of Life by Podsatorn Keela of Khon Kaen University. The award marked Podsatorn’s return to the ASDA podium, having previously won the Thailand national title in 2024.
What makes this year’s selection particularly compelling is the range of media and design approaches through which each finalist translated an idea into a distinct spatial language, even as all were assessed against the same four criteria: Purposeful Design, or clarity of intent; Inviting Style, which considers the appeal of the overall design expression; Originality, encompassing creativity and innovation; and Feasibility, or the extent to which the proposal could be realistically implemented.
Jinjuta Chomputsa (Thailand National Winner)
Thailand National Winner: Seamless Living, Every Stage of Life
By Jinjuta Chomputsa, Chulalongkorn University
Seamless Living, Every Stage of Life takes its cue directly from its title, proposing a bathroom that can serve family members continuously throughout different stages of life, from children and adults to older residents. At the center of the scheme is the handrail, an essential functional element that Jinjuta integrates almost imperceptibly into the room itself. Extending in an unbroken line from the entrance to the shower area, it provides support for elderly users while doubling as a soap ledge, towel rail, and multipurpose hanging system.
The plan follows a straightforward sequence of use. Upon entering, the washbasin sits to the left and the toilet to the right, with the wet zone positioned at the far end. Alongside the handrail running the length of the right-hand wall, the storage unit beneath the basin extends into a shower seat for older users. It also incorporates a stool that can be pulled out when the area in front of the mirror is used as a vanity. The same piece can be unfolded into a step, allowing younger children to reach the basin comfortably when washing their faces or brushing their teeth.
Lighting is another aspect Jinjuta approaches with particular care. A window allows daylight to play the principal role during the day, while fiber-optic lighting and night lighting provide alternatives as natural light recedes, each calibrated to a different use. The fiber-optic system is intended to shape the atmosphere, recreating the dappled interplay of light and shadow filtering through foliage to foster a sense of calm. The night light, by contrast, is deliberately subdued. Concealed beneath the handrail, it offers just enough illumination for late-night visits without exposing the eyes to a level of brightness that might make it difficult to fall asleep again.
fiber optic light
night light
The strength of Seamless Living, Every Stage of Life, then, lies less in spectacle than in the careful coordination of modest interventions. Each element performs more than one role, yet remains comfortably embedded within the familiar framework of a domestic bathroom, making the proposal a particularly convincing response to this year’s brief.
Jinjuta Chomputsa with her project ‘Seamless Living, Every Stage of Life’
Thailand First Runner-up: Glow to Inspire Everyday
By Pornnapat Tana, Chulalongkorn University
Glow to Inspire Everyday takes light as its principal medium for bringing moments of inspiration into the bathroom. Pornnapat introduces a playful sensibility throughout the T-shaped plan, which gives the washbasin, toilet, and shower zone each a distinct pocket of space and a character of its own.
The washbasin is the first element encountered upon entering. Directly overhead, a skylight casts natural light across a graphic pattern across the floor, turning an otherwise routine start to the day into something a little more memorable. Beyond it, a scattering of small openings punctuates the ceiling above the passageway leading to the two remaining zones. At night, these points of light create the illusion of a constellation overhead.
During the day, however, the bathroom is primarily illuminated by a generous window extending from the toilet area through to the shower zone. Both the toilet and the shower seat are oriented toward this opening, allowing users to look out onto the greenery beyond and draw a sense of renewal from the view. A small table has even been positioned nearby, ready to capture an idea that might surface during a longer spell in the bathroom.
Working with light as an atmospheric device also lends the interior an overriding sense of openness. The shower enclosure is therefore formed from translucent polycarbonate panels, balancing privacy with the passage of light. Elsewhere, glass and glass blocks are combined with a palette of sand, sage green, and deep red, with color conceived as another means of stimulating the senses and imagination. Sand and sage green establish the quieter backdrop across much of the interior, while deep red is introduced in carefully measured accents, bringing energy to the composition without compromising the sense of stability and security expected of a bathroom.
For Pornnapat, light in this project is more than a practical source of illumination. It becomes a symbol of warmth, serenity, and brightness woven into the rhythms of everyday life.
Pornnapat Tana with her project ‘Glow to Inspire Everyday’
Thailand Second Runner-up: Harmonic Resonance – Rhythm of Nature, Rhythm of Life
By Podsatorn Keela, Khon Kaen University
Harmonic Resonance brings the competition brief into dialogue with Podsatorn’s own interests, asking how the largely unpredictable sounds of nature might be transformed into music capable of bringing inspiration into everyday life. The proposal begins by filtering external noise through three configurations of aerated concrete blocks: hollow blocks that channel sound, sound-blocking bricks, and, finally, storage shelving whose outer face blends almost seamlessly into the wall. The hollow blocks can also accommodate service pipes, making future maintenance of the building systems more convenient.
The shower area becomes the principal setting for experiencing these sounds without interfering with other activities. Its walls are therefore constructed entirely from the sound-channeling blocks. The project’s defining feature, however, lies beneath the floor: a ’resonance floor’ that harnesses the sounds of flowing water and moving air, converting them through a network of resonance pipes into a range of more harmonious tones. Integrated with both the drainage and ventilation systems, the pipe arrangement draws on the musical principle of harmonics, in which frequencies of different pitches can produce consonance when sounded together. As water drains through the floor and into the pipes below, it generates shifting musical tones, ensuring that the sensory experience of showering is never quite the same twice.
The spatial organization is equally interesting. Podsatorn positions the washbasin facing outward and separates it entirely from the wet zone, since producing the desired acoustic effect requires water to fall freely onto the floor. This arrangement also allows other family members to use the basin independently and with greater ease. Material choices, meanwhile, are calibrated to the reflective and absorptive qualities required by each part of the bathroom. Smooth, dense surfaces such as stainless steel and timber reinforce sound through reflection and resonance, while rougher, more porous materials, including aerated concrete and stone tiles, help absorb excess noise.
The project’s underlying inspiration, which also prompted Podsatorn to take sound as his principal medium, stems from an understanding of inspiration as something that cannot be forced into existence. Instead, it arises from nature’s unpremeditated occurrences: moments that arrest our attention, set the imagination in motion, and, in doing so, give rise to new ideas.
Podsatorn Keela with his project ‘Harmonic Resonance – Rhythm of Nature, Rhythm of Life’
art4d congratulates all three winners of ASDA 2026. Although this year’s theme returns to the home, one of the most familiar settings of everyday life, it nonetheless creates ample room for each designer to articulate an individual point of view through a fresh and distinctive design language. Those interested in exploring the works of the other National Winners can visit the ASDA 2026 website for more: https://asda.americanstandard-apac.com/winners-2026/
