Sukonthip Sa-ngiamvongse and Jirawit Yamkleeb are the founding partners of Archismith Architects, an architecture firm based in Thailand. Established to bring innovative and sustainable architectural solutions, Archismith has become known for its contextually responsive and environmentally conscious designs. Sukonthip Sa-ngiamvongse, a graduate of Chulalongkorn University, brings a strong focus on integrating cultural elements into contemporary architecture. Jirawit Yamkleeb, an alumnus of Chulalongkorn University and Technische Universiteit Delft emphasizes the importance of functional aesthetics and sustainable practices.
Archismith has been involved in a variety of projects, ranging from residential buildings to public spaces, each reflecting the firm’s commitment to blending modern design with local traditions and ecological awareness. Their work has received several awards and recognitions for innovation and design excellence.
In an insightful interview, Sukonthip Sa-ngiamvongse and Jirawit Yamkleeb share their design philosophy, highlight significant projects, and discuss the collaborative dynamics within Archismith, along with the challenges and opportunities they encounter in their architectural practice.
What inspired you to become an architect?
Our love for art and drawings, when we were young, got us into architectural school. Subsequently, what keeps us going as professional architects is our passion to create spaces for life, not just for humans but also for nature. Client satisfaction is our reward and source of power.
How would you describe your design philosophy?
Archismith is a multi-disciplinary design firm based in Bangkok founded in 2015 by Jirawit Yamkleeb and Sukonthip Sa-ngiamvongse. We do not look at ourselves as Architects or Interior Designers. We would rather regard ourselves as Lifestyle Designers. As signified by the company’s name, which literally means architectural craftsman, Archismith’s designs are generally crafted with great attention to detail and creativity in material application. The following are our design principles.
- Seamless integration of Architecture and Interior Design
- Attention to detail and creativity in material application
- Environmental awareness and social responsibility
- Contextual design rather than form-making
- User-orientated approach/translation of user’s lifestyle into built form
Can you tell us about your favorite project and why it stands out?
Our favorite project so far is The Glass Fortress. The design features about 20,000 glass blocks containing a landscaped courtyard inside. The special detail of the glass block reduces the visual perception of joints, thus creating a continuous all-glass effect on the walls. The most difficult part is that the glass blocks are built into a complete loop, not just a straight or an L-shaped wall so the precision on the drawings and on-site is very crucial to achieve regular spacing of the glass blocks. The extensive use of glass block together with the light and shadow effect makes it stand out, we suppose.
What is your favorite architectural detail?
We love most of our details since they were created or chosen for certain reasons, so we do not have the most favorite one. However, there is a particular detail we would like to share with you as this small detail eventually contributes to a greater whole. It is a façade detail for a project we call The Green Silhouette, a renewal project rebuilt from an abandoned structure that was part of a masterplan with one tower already completed and two left unfinished. Considering recent changes in market trends, the old structure had to be torn down since it no longer fits the new unit layouts. The existing masterplan comprises 3 identical buildings so the team had to start the redesign process with this inherited building form, a sort of cardboard box shape. It was a difficult task to get a striking form since any addition on top of the previously authority-approved building frame was not an option and removal meant loss of saleable area. After a few rounds of frustrating façade design study, we decided to make use of the bulky form as a billboard to create building character out of it instead. The façade design consists of rows of precast concrete fins twisted and tapered at specific points to create an image of a tree silhouette that represents a generous green area of the project as a selling point set by the marketing team.
Do you have a favorite material?
We love glass materials for their various appearances and effects. Though a bit delicate to handle but for a place with extreme heat and humidity like Thailand, glass is probably the only material that maintains its consistent look over time, of course, with a bit of cleaning occasionally. For example, our façade design for Money Café Pinkoo Pawn Shop features 20 panels of black laminated tempered glass. The project was completed 8 years ago but it still looks rather new nowadays. Anyway, in our practice, the use of glass must be considerably appropriate in terms of functionality, climate, budget, maintenance, and so on.
What is your process for starting a new project?
Both of us are pretty much involved in the design process of all projects. We first work together as a team trying to understand requirements from the Client and site context to establish the same understanding and then we split to explore design options. After that, we look at the pros and cons of each alternative and develop them further into schemes that will be presented to the Client. In most cases, the final design is none of the presented schemes but an offspring of them as we prefer to engage the Client to design with us during the meeting as well.
How do you balance creativity and practicality in your designs?
It depends on the typology of the project. For example, in the case of residential projects, no matter how creative you want your design to be, it still needs to be functional because the homeowners live there. They have to see and use your design every day. But in some cases, such as commercial projects, creativity can sometimes be pushed a little further to draw attention.
What role does the surrounding environment play in your architectural projects?
Archismithdesigns are contextual rather than form-making, we rarely start a project by looking at the shape or style we want. Site context is so important that we find designing a building on a very large plot more difficult as it will be so far away from nearby buildings that they no longer matter. For us, certain things are placed there for a reason.
How do you balance architecture and interior design in your projects?
We believe in a holistic design approach so much that we do not look at architecture and interior design separately anymore. Everything is curated with one goal in mind; to achieve a certain lifestyle we are designing for our client.
What innovative materials or construction techniques you’ve adopted recently and how did these influence the outcomes?
We recently completed a house using hollow-core triangular-shaped ceramic tiles, called Thermic Tiles, which act as a thermal barrier. The heat gain is reduced thermodynamically by a natural breeze flowing through the void of each tile. The folding texture of the cladding also helps to reduce the direct hit of sunlight as 50% of the surface will be in shade most of the time. Since the Thermic Tiles are wrapped on almost all surfaces of the 3rd story of the house, it was not an easy task as the layout of the walls is not in a simple rectangular shape. Due to the 3-dimensional form of the tiles, they also cannot be cut so we had to make sure that all wall dimensions on site could fit the tiles perfectly.
How do you approach working with clients to understand their needs and visions?
We start by getting to know our clients, whether they are homeowners or corporate firms. Throughout the design process, we gather as much information as possible, not only about the project but also about their lifestyle or target groups. In our experience, clients sometimes do not know what they want or realize that what they think they want is not actually what they need. It is our job to compile all the data and distill it into an essence of ideas, which eventually turns into a design concept.
What architectural trends or movements do you find most inspiring?
For our generation, of course, it has to be AI in design. It is so intriguing to see what AI can do nowadays and its development rate is astonishing! There is a speculation going on that in the future AI will replace architects but, for us, we recognize it as just another design tool to make our work more efficient. Though, maybe in the future AI will be able do a lot of what architects can do, our role may change slightly to become an Architectural AI Commander. The prompts provided by people with direct experience in the field like us will always be better or more accurate than those prepared by others with less or no experience. It is just another transition from hand drawing to CAD to BIM and finally now to AI, all of which will be done either by or under the supervision of architects. In the future, the end of the conceptual design stage could be when architects submit a complete set of preliminary prompts, who knows?
What advice would you give to aspiring architects?
Do not compare yourself with any other successful architects as, no matter how good you are, there is always someone better than you. As long as your client is happy, you are already a winner. Focus on what you firmly believe in. Find a big idea or design principle that you can use as a backbone of your designs and develop or evolve it further. Do your best, one step at a time in the right direction toward your goal, whatever it is.
