A plot on the bank of Ping River covered by magnificent decades old rain trees is so blissful that no built form could compete with. The shade of tree’s canopies already creates a nearly perfect climatic condition for living.

The building just inserts itself gently in between the trees without touching any of them to form the five wings connecting to one another with smooth curves housing one common facility and four private apartments. The enclosure of each wing gradually dissolves from solid masses surrounding open platform at the center to completely open platform surrounded by the leaves.  The concrete roof slab follows almost exactly the floor plate and curves up at the end of each wing to embrace the flora. The roof terrace is a piazza where one can get close to the sky while being shaded by the fine grain of the rain trees. As flooding on the shore is capricious, the main level is elevated, leaving the ground mostly untouched and allowing wild vegetations to merge with the house.

The typology of space is similar to those of vernacular house by the water: small boxy wooden room floating on an elevated platform. Contemporary materials such as concrete, sleek glass walls, dark stone cladding, and metal frames actually allow the house to be more comfortable and better embrace its setting than the vernacular ancestor.

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