Build a house in your own style with WIDE HOUSE at Architect’23
A house in a narrow plot of land by a canal, a circular house, a house with an interior garage, a house within a house, a house whose ground floor is a gold-jewelry shop and many other house designs are interesting works of WIDE HOUSE.
From S. Siwa Karnchang, a leading company in turnkey construction work, and S Double & Partner, which provides professional design services, WIDE HOUSE is a new affiliate with both design and construction services.
What is the uniqueness of WIDE HOUSE? Why Design & Build? What surprises will there be at this Architect’23 booth? Discover all the answers in this interview with Khun Weera Vittayaroongruangsri, founder and Design Director of Wide House Design and Build Co., Ltd. and Khun Piyapong Indratula, Associate Partner of Wide House Design and Build Co., Ltd.
Design, function, uniqueness
“We are designers who focus on functionality,” Khun Piyapong sums up the identity of WIDE HOUSE in one sentence.
From its experience in construction and design business, WIDE HOUSE is a company that provides Design & Build services with deep understanding of the unique design needs of customers.
“With COVID-19 situation, people’s lifestyle has changed drastically. In the house, there are rooms with different functions from standard ones. Some has a gym, a home office, a room for a livestream selling or as a store in the house, a café or even a gold shop. WIDE HOUSE responds to these demands because we do not provide standard houses. Every customer defines function as their main demand.”
“Design & Build starts from the functionality by having the customers tell us about their needs first, then we design to fit the area, ” Khun Weera explained.
With this nature of work, WIDE HOUSE constantly encounters challenging tasks, from projects with strange space sizes like the shape of noodle but the customer wished a house with a swimming pool “Every customer who comes to us starts the design from scratch, strange size and strange function.”
In one of their projects, the task was to design a space where cars can be parked in the interior of the house as the customer is a car geek. WIDE HOUSE achieved that by designing the space in a way that the car is visible from every corner of the house, even if the house itself is situated along a canal.
In addition to the reasons for the needs of the customer’s functionality and area with a different shapes or sizes, another reason that compels customers to choose WIDE HOUSE is its one-stop-service from the design, construction to built-in furniture.
Work like WIDE HOUSE
‘Minimalism’ is the most popular style among WIDE HOUSE customers, however, each minimal-style house from WIDE HOUSE is designed according to the functions that customers wish, hence the uniqueness of each house.
“We present the customers with standard designs first to understand their preference. After having been given the space, area, and add-on functionality, we design the house in that style with all the functions that the customer wants.”
House designs from WIDE HOUSE are available in styles including Modern Classic, Tropical, Modern Loft and Minimal.
“Customers who come to us, although they say they like the design of this minimal house, they would also ask us to do something to make their house different. Some built a façade at the front. For example, one of our customers runs jewelry business. He lives upstairs and the ground floor acts as his store. The concept is that he also does business of gold, so we play with the idea of price of gold graph with perforated material in gold color. This is a design that interpret stories from customers.
The work process of WIDE HOUSE, after being briefed about the customer requirements, the interior architect will start designing the function of the space first. The result is a functionality designed specifically for unique needs, only later the focus is shifted to the aesthetic aspect, such as façade, leading to a successful collaboration.
Booth ideas from customers!
Following a highly positive response from last year’s Architect’22, WIDE HOUSE aims to design the exhibition area at Architect’23 from the data about customer’s needs.
“Only about 30% of the booth is for exhibitions, the rest is area for relaxation.”
“I’m not a fan of a hard sell,” said Khun Weera, “I don’t want visitors to be afraid to walk inside the booth. We take the uniqueness of WIDE HOUSE, which is designing by prioritizing functionality, and turn the booth into a small gallery with a comfortable atmosphere because I believe that the sales do not have to end that day. We just wish that the customers would understand us and believe in our identity first. What the customers will receive is the uniqueness of each house,” concluded Khun Weera.
The content of the exhibition to be displayed has also been tailored according to the feedback of Architect’22. “At last year’s event, some of the customers that came to us had difficult tasks. For example, one wished a circular house. Another wished to build another house within the area of an already existing house. These are the goals that could not be achieved by other companies, so they come to WIDE HOUSE.”
“Last year, there were also resort projects. The customer had a house in another province in a good location and they wished to build a house there, like a vacation house. But they felt that if the house was left unoccupied, they would have to hire someone to take care of the house. So they began thinking about renting it. They were willing to spend money because they felt that they would get something in return.”
“We also have developers who can help us design and actualize their dream. For example, what would they get in return if they spend this amount of money with a land in another province? We have had a lot of experience with this type of projects, so we already know what to do and the rooms that are required. For this type of work, if it is the first time, it will be very difficult. With our experience, we can determine that with this budget, what to do if you want to build more than one house.”
“Let’s share our thoughts in case ideas come up.”
As a company that strives to make designers more accessible to customers, WIDE HOUSE would like to invite everyone to meet and talk. “There are many customers who come to talk to us, and they spend hours and hours at our booth, so we decided to reduce the exhibition area. If the customers want to talk, let them talk. I’ll just bring all the designers. Let’s share our thoughts in case ideas come up,” said Khun Weera.
Meet WIDE HOUSE at booth No. D105 at Architect’23, the 35th ASEAN’s Largest Building Technology Exposition during 25- 30 April, 2023 at Challenger Hall, IMPACT Muang Thong Thani.
