The Site-Specific model home in Bangkok
We are big fans of sustainable architecture — from bamboo and thatch houses in the villages, to cutting edge off-grid earth homes, to recycled shipping containers.
Over the last 2-3 years we’ve been looking for a new place for ISDSI. We love the place we are in — a large house we’ve added to and remodeled into classrooms, a library, offices, and gear storage areas. It has a wonderful garden, and is in a good location. However, with 12 full time staff, and 4-8 part time instructors, plus from 17-33 students a semester, it can get crowded! So we’ve been looking around Chiang Mai for a suitable location, and exploring what our options are. As a part of this, we’ve been doing a lot of research into sustainable architecture — what can be done with what we have, and what we might need.
A container house that Site-Specific designed outside of Bangkok.
Two firms that we really like are Mithun and Site-Specific. Mithun is based in Seattle, and we met with them this last summer to talk about possible project designed with shipping containers, bamboo, and other materials. We spent a great time talking with Ron van der Veen and Dave Goldberg at Mithun about sustainability, our vision for a new home for ISDSI, and learning a great deal about sustainable architecture. The site we chose ended up not being available (let’s just say the land owners had some rather creative ways to write the contract), but we’ve learned a great deal with Mithun, and if you are interested in sustainable architecture and design, spend some time on their website — it is a great read and full of wonderful buildings. Thanks too to Ron and Dave for all the time they’ve spent working with us.
During this process we also met Khun Chuta Sinthupan, a Thai architect and the founder of Site-Specific. We first read about his work online, where several green and architectural blogs were talking about a model home he was showing in Bangkok — blending shipping containers with bamboo and other materials. We checked it out, and got in touch with Khun Chuta, and had a great meeting with him in Bangkok. He is involved in a lot of amazing projects, and has a great blog. Khun Chuta has been an invaluable resource as we’re working out the next stage of ISDSI, and we’d recommend his blog — it features not only their own work, but also links to interesting projects around the web.
(And yes, we’re still looking and sorting out what we are going to do — our current place is so nice we don’t feel rushed — and we’ll let you know what we decide.)
