115 Samran Mansion Loft

An unused office got a second life as spacious industrial loft-style apartment. Previously, the 66sqm office had a standard three-meter-high fake ceiling, a small internal toilet and was divided into rooms. However, this corner location on a commercial floor, between car parking and apartment floors of an older condominium building in the Huay Khwang area of Bangkok, has become a hidden gem.

regroup architecture remodeled the space after reducing the old office to its bare shell. The basic design idea uses the central core provided by the kitchen and bathroom to separate the space into different zones. There is a more private zone behind the core for the bed, a living zone with a TV and sofa, and an in-between space for a multipurpose bar-height desk. This basic zoning could potentially also work for other functions like an artist atelier, yoga studio, exhibition space, or even for a small office once again.

After removing the old office T-bar ceiling, we discovered over one meter additional height and a beautiful original concrete ceiling. The space is now 4.3m tall and the raw concrete ceiling is contrasted with a wooden cube containing the kitchen, closets, and a bathroom through a hidden door. A simple dark ceramic tile on the floor helps to ground the space and gives a neural canvas for art and the furniture.

The building regulations didn’t allow for replacing the corridor office glass wall, but more privacy and security was required to use the space as an apartment. A new, inner steel door, frosted glass panels and full-height shelves with perforated metal back panels were added. The result is an ambivalent corridor wall, offering a combination of the necessary privacy, controlled transparency, and welcomed light.

The tall ceilings give it a very spacious, loft-like feeling. The back wall of the living room is equipped with wall washer lights and is intended to be covered in paintings. The long, multipurpose bar-height desk along the windows could be used as dining table or work desk.

The small, but well-equipped, kitchen is part of the block in the middle of the apartment. This wooden cube contains, beside all electricity and internet infrastructure, two closets, the bathroom and its hidden door, and additional storage cabinets above the closets.

The bedroom is located at the very end, separate from the living room, and has a corner view over the low-rise neighbor buildings. The brick wall behind the bed, in combination with warm indirect light from above, gives a warm, almost fabric-like impression in the space. During the day, the bedroom is part of the whole apartment with no wall or door to separate it. However, curtains on three sides wrap the bedroom in a cocoon to make a very cozy and intimate space at night.

The bathroom keeps most of the available room height and the shower itself is 3.5m tall. A full-size glass-block wall between the shower and bedroom allows daylight to enter the bathroom in daytime and a playful interaction of light, shadow and blurred shapes at night. The bathroom mainly consists of hard surfaces like glass and ceramic tiles, contrasted with a wooden sink countertop and a wooden lamp.