Young designers’ fresh ideas shape a new world for seniors

One of these will soon be built as an actual condo in Bangkok’s Soi Soon-vijai area by a major property firm.

School of Architecture and Design lecturer Waraluk Pansuwan said these projects stemmed from the 2014 condominium design contest that the school hosted in collaboration with Tararom Group.

“Tararom has a plan to build an actual condominium in the Soi Soonvijai area so they proposed an opportunity for our third-year architecture and design students – who are supposed to design a condominium as per the lecturer’s instruction as part of their curriculum,” she said.

Tararom senior vice president Somsak Niyompanichakan said the company wished to see fresh and new ideas from younger generations who are more independent from the limitations imposed by business thinking. 

As a result they challenged the students to design a condo suitable for elderly peopleand eliminate certain conditions, allowing the students to use their imagination and knowledge in presenting something different from other condominiums. 

“It is a very exciting challenge for the young to design a society and residence for the elderly,” he added.

The winner was the “VGreen Development” project by Athiwat Sirichatpiriya. It featured a building design that makes use of space effectively and better responds to the balance between business and benefits to consumers. The design also comes with a “residential area” that bears in mind the elderly people’s lifestyle. 

There were restaurants, a drug store, a hospital, a haircut shop and a garden for exercising in the condominium’s common area. Green space surrounding the building would allow the residents to have interaction with neighbours. On the condominium’s second floor there was also a zone for the elderly people’s private community activities. 

The first runner-up was Nattapong Khunakornsawat whose “The Eureka” model also won the outstanding creativity prize. This model presents compact units to minimise the senior residents’ burden to maintain the environment. It also emphasised a good physical and mentally healthy lifestyle. It promoted ‘social space” by pulling elderly residents out of their rooms to the walkways and garden corners that linked one building to another so they could sit, do gardening, exercise and socialise with others. 

The second runner-up was Papas Kuasirikul’s “Pixel” model that provides multi-functions for a modern lifestyle. Besides its unique look on the outside, the model was interesting on the inside as each unit provided multiple choices for residents. 

Instead of opening the front door to a living room as in traditional condominium units, “Pixel” let people choose what they wanted to see first when opening the front door: bedroom, living room or kitchen – each of which were in switchable sections.