hospitalitystyle.com

(Spring 2011) posted on Wed May 25, 2011 EDT

Thai Pad: Tradition and technology mix to make an eco-chic lifestyle at Hilton Pattaya, Thailand’s new vertical resort.

By Mary Scoviak

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Every hotel is supposed to tell a story. With its waving ceilings and lounge chairs inspired by ocean boulders, Hilton Pattaya is a great read. But as appealing as the finished work is, it’s the back story of this 302-room luxury hotel that offers real insight into the Hilton Hotels & Resorts brand’s global goal of making a high-rise hotel escapist, efficient and environmentally correct.

Nothing was easy. The Hilton Worldwide Global Design Services team that consulted on behalf of Hilton Hotels & Resorts, and primary designers Department of Architecture Co. Ltd. (Bangkok) and August Design Consultant Co. (Bangkok), had the fundamental challenge of making a high-rise tower feel like a beachfront resort. Then there was the mandate to deliver that luxurious ambience within an environmentally and socially conscious context that didn’t look disconnected from the foursquare shopping and entertainment complex on the podium beneath the hotel. And, of course, the design had to convey a sense of place—not an easy assignment given Pattaya’s ongoing evolution from a historically prosperous fishing village to a contemporary leisure hot spot.

The solution was to let these complexities work for the project. That started with a façade that blends classic, passive environmental design features with modern Thai construction techniques and adds in the latest innovations. For example, the expansive cantilevered roof that shelters the rooftop terrace is a modern interpretation of the deep overhangs that have shaded Thai homes for centuries. Vertical slats frame the exterior of the guest room windows. Although these elements were crafted from aluminum and colored in warm, wood-like hues, they faithfully recall the aesthetics of the region’s tropical villas. Like their residential counterparts, these slats are about both form and function. In addition to filtering out the sun’s heat, they cast ephemeral shadow patterns that play across the guest rooms’ walls and floors.

But Hilton Hotels & Resorts and the on-site design teams were not just looking to history for their design threads. Borrowing from the “egg crate” exteriors common in the large modern Thai buildings of the 1950s and 1960s, the architects fashioned a series of recesses in the tower’s façade. Although they may appear random, these indents are placed strategically in relation to the views, sun orientation and the podium below. They raise the building’s green profile by providing structural shade for the deep-set windows.

There’s also a dash of modern thinking, as evidenced by the structure’s meticulously designed double skin of vertical and horizontal elements that appear effortless and randomly spaced. Becoming common in Western architecture but still fairly new to Thailand, this double-skin design decreases the amount of intense-sun UV radiation while allowing reflected light to wash the interiors. That lightens both the air conditioning and lighting load.

To establish an interior sense of place, the designers focused on materials such as marble, granite, wood, crystal, glass and sandstone to describe Pattaya’s inextricable ties to the sea. Under the direction of Department of Architecture principal Amata Luphaiboon and August Design Consultant Co. principal Pongthep Sagulku, the design team expressed undulating wave patterns in the slight curve of the guest room walls and the subtly rolled edges of the in-room work desks and seating. Rippling sand was the inspiration for the flowing fabric ceiling that caps the 16th-floor lobby. “Plounges,” lounge chairs reminiscent of boulders found on the ocean floor, are set on platforms in a series of shallow ponds to offer a memorably different outdoor seating option for the terrace of the lobby lounge, Drift.

Bamboo was used for construction and design, reinforcing that nature can be both the message and medium. “With a tensile strength greater than steel and stronger in compression than concrete, bamboo has always been the builder’s companion on Asian worksites,” says Larry Traxler, senior vice president, Global Design Services for Hilton Worldwide. “It’s easily available, durable and has a high efficient carbon soak. It’s the ultimate green raw material.

“We set out to prove that, with careful design, it’s possible to blend a desired aesthetic and practicality into an environmentally conscious hotel without losing out on functionality, efficiency or guest convenience,” says Traxler. “Design is a key area of focus for the Hilton Hotels & Resorts brand. We were able to convey that branded style while minimizing the environmental impact and building a vertical structure in a city setting. We had to experiment with a lot of possibilities to make that happen. The point is, it did.”