this nature lovers café is built around a 100-year-old tree in thailand

housescape design lab completed the third version of basecamp trail provision — a place for people who are interested in activities like ultra-trail running, bicycle, hiking, and other outdoor activities — in chiangmai, thailand. the project consists of a café, a shop, shower rooms, and WCs and is located on the hills, surrounded by trees that are at least 100 years old. the designers first asked themselves the question ‘how to design a conversation with the environment?’ went for the challenge of not cutting down a big tree.

images by chaiyaporn sodabunlu

housescape design lab connected the café and the shop by a terrace that surrounds the courtyard. the topography shapes and the position of the big trees, make part of the building’s structure float above the rather steep ground. this makes part of the building drain water to flow naturally in case of floods—which is very common in thailand—and the wall of the building stretch from the grid system to create an area that surrounds the position of the big tree.

all trail-runners spend most of their time in nature getting used to the imperfect texture of things. therefore, one important part of the design was about selecting the right materials, common surfaces and telling a coherent story. the designers believed that the materials will tell their story themselves with the traces and the action from the construction process.

to protect the big old tree, housescape design lab built a wall around it making it become part of the design but separate from the main structure. to them, this wall was like the mason’s painting with the rhythm and movement part of the texture on the wall. the designers aimed to create an ‘unfamiliar meaning’ for the expectations of the users by creating an alternative conversation about common things in our daily life. as part of a small ceremony familiar with contemporary thai culture, the designers experimented with wood chips and decided to use them for large partitions which can be picked up by users to write their name on and hang on a wall.

project info:

name: basecamp trail provision

architects: housescape design lab

​area: 350 sqm

location: chiangmai, thailand

​lead architects: peerapong promchart

maker team: c.wiruj, c.tuy, c.cha, c.sook, c.funh, c.tah, c.nut, c.sant, c.lung boon, c.lung somchai c.mod

​clients: basecamp trail provision

structural engineer: bunpot jaipiengkam

​consultant: jar pilawan

sanitary engineer: channarong utsri

​manufacturers: conwood, orm, beger, seamless, aqualine, cotto

​photography: chaiyaporn sodabunlu, housescape design lab

designboom has received this project from our ‘DIY submissions‘ feature, where we welcome our readers to submit their own work for publication. see more project submissions from our readers here.

edited by: yasmina karam | designboom