Headers: Rungkit Charoenwat
Located along the Gulf of Thailand in Chonburi, the Bayphere Hotel Pattaya was designed with a special focus on how landscape design can help integrate a new structure with its site’s natural history, rather than simply framing it, an idea brought forward by VVdesine Landscape Architecture, with Vongvasu Chaloisap leading the project alongside Vichittrarat Chaloisap and Supajit Worakitpipat.
The hotel grounds were shaped around the story of the land’s formation, which is tied to the region’s mangrove ecosystems and sedimentary processes. The architecture and environment can develop together by drawing from local methods that use bamboo and mangrove sticks to encourage natural sediment build-up.
The project was developed with three levels in mind, each addressing a different aspect of the site’s relationship to the sea. On the ground floor, a garden and open-air lobby introduce guests to a landscape where water plays an active role: a waterfall, a reflecting pond, and a dynamic feature wall remind guests of tidal flows, while the paving’s soft, flowing patterns trace the imagined movement of waves across sand.
Above, the rooftop pool frames views of the Gulf, with a pop-up jacuzzi and cascading water mirroring the textures and sounds of the beach below. From here, an elevated boardwalk welcomes guests to the beach, having been raised above the ground to minimise impact on the preserved mangrove zone.
Completed in 2018 for Habitat Group, the Bayphere Hotel Pattaya is the recent winner of the Landscape Architecture – Hotel & Resort Landscape prize at the BLT Built Design Awards.
