Project Description
This small cottage or bungalow was designed by Chiangmai Life Construction (CLC) as sample resort bungalow or weekend house, the so called “Ban Rai”. The cottage is our solution for customers who want to be close to nature in their holidays and are looking for a comfortable but affordable compact one-bedroom unit with bathroom and pantry. It consists of one room, a half-open bathroom with a shower under the open sky and a big covered veranda as main living room with a built-in pantry. All walls are made of adobe bricks, the floor inside is rammed earth and the floor outside as well as part of the bathroom is made from bamboo.
The small cottage was fitted with lots of little features and detail: the shower is made from bamboo, the washbasin carved out of a rock and fixed on a bamboo pedestal. The bathroom is fitted with a built-in towel rack, the main room with a built-in clothes rack and shelves as well as a book shelf. The terrace is fitted with a day-bed bench and a sitting corner.
The walls made from adobe bricks are really good sound insulators. Step into a room made of adobe bricks and you feel a soothing quietness and calm that blankets you from loud noises outside.
Also their thermal mass stores heat during the day, thus keeping the room cool. Throughout the evening and night, they slowly release the heat. Construction using Adobe bricks is sustainable as no natural resources are abused and therefore guarantees a low carbon footprint.
The roof is made from bamboo and is very light and strong. Unlike steel roofs that act like heat conductors, a bamboo roof is a great insulator. It automatically creates a cool interior.
The rammed earth floor also helps keeping the interior cool. It has a wax finishing thus creating a firm but soft feeling connecting us directly with mother Earth. The clay used for the rammed earth floors, comes from the subsoil, leaving the topsoil for agricultural uses. Ideally the soil from the construction site can be used, thus reducing cost and energy of transportation. When the building is demolished, the earth walls return to the soil or can be recycled.