Serenity

Serenity is an incredibly beautiful house that reclines elegantly along the northern shoreline of Cape Yamu on the eastern coast of Phuket Island. The narrow linear site has stunning views of Por Bay and Phae Island in the foreground, while its connection to a wider world is signaled by the flight path to Phuket International Airport 12 kilometers away to the north over Phang Nga Bay. The house is the home of British-born Anthony Wilkinson and his Hong Kong born wife Anna (Wong). The couple have two daughters, one living and working in Brisbane and the other living and working in Hong Kong.

The house is designed in a sophisticated modern language with precise horizontal and vertical lines.

The house is entered through a large pivoted timber door from a south-facing vehicular courtyard. The door is set in a long gray granite-clad wall; a panoramic view of the ocean is denied at this point. Beyond the door, a transverse corridor leads to an open footbridge over a pond and waterfall that are, conceptually, a protective moat. At this point the spatial compression in the entrance lobby is dramatically released and there is an incredible visual connection with the sea, the offshore islands and the horizon. The element of surprise is an important aspect of the enjoyment of the dwelling.

The residence steps down the steep northeast facing cliff.

The orthogonal plan of the house is a series of interlocking rectangular spaces forming a linear composition occupying 60 percent of the 40-meter-long site. Th e architect has moved the house away from the slope to facilitate cross-ventilation, and the deep courtyards created along the southern edge of the house permit the house to breathe. The result is a sophisticated modernist composition with precise horizontal lines stepping down the slope but stopping short of the shore. A glittering azure infinity pool stretches along the upper deck, and in the rear courtyard is a dramatic tall fountain. For my visit, Anna Wilkinson has chosen to play a CD of a Parisian jazz ensemble that seemed wholly appropriate for the mood of the house.

A glittering infinity pool stretches along the upper deck.

I am accompanied on my perambulations by the owners’ three dogs two gentle chocolate labradors, Mooshi and Toffee, and Rusty, a local mongrel of a much more inquisitive nature.

Forests climb the ridge to the west.

The architect of the residence is Duangrit Bunnag of DBALP, who pursued his first degree in architecture at Chulalongkorn University before studying for a postgraduate diploma at the Architectural Association (AA) in London from 1993 to 1995 where he elected to join the studio of Jeffrey Kipness and Barhan Shirdel. Upon his return to Bangkok, Bunnag worked with Nithi Sthapatinonda at A49 before branching out on his own in July 1998. He was also editor, until 1999, of art4d, a leading architecture design and art magazine in Thailand.

The linear kitchen/dining area.

The owners of the house met Bunnag through an interior designer friend who had worked for DBALP, and from the outset a firm rapport was established. The couple did not want a traditional pitched roof, and so the house has what is known as a flat ‘upside-down’ roof, with insulation on the upper surface that maintains the interior at a consistently cool temperature. The sun rises at the end of the pool terrace at 06.45, but by 08.00 has moved south and does not penetrate into the house except in the late afternoon.

The route to the master bedroom.

The four-bedroom house is within a larger development known as Baan Yamu. Several weeks after visiting the house, I read the Man Booker Prize 2009 nominated novel The Glass Room by Simon Mawer. The author might have been writing about the uplifting spatial qualities of Serenity at Cape Yamu when he describes the Glass Room as ‘Perfection of proportion, of illumination, of mood and manner. Beauty made manifest.’