This project is for a 90 year old client Khunying Noi, a member of the Thai royal family, and is situated on top of a hill in northern Chiang Mai with a view of the northern mountain range.
Initially she was looking for a space to enjoy the sunset and bring together the family. So the Sunset Sala came to be and proved very popular with her friends and family. As she is a practicing Buddhist and active member of the Buddhist community, she then commissioned us to create a space designed to facilitate spiritual practice. Consequently, the meditation cathedral was given bathrooms.
To lift the practitioner’s feelings, the meditation space was designed like a dome of a cathedral. To achieve the cathedral feeling the designer used bundled bamboo to form arches that are at the same time the structural support of the whole building like in roman or gothic cathedrals. They carry a floating umbrella shaped roof with skylights like a wheel.
Next to the meditation space is a bathroom with showers and toilets for ladies and gentlemen. It has a striking bamboo roof on top and an adobe building with decorative bottles in the wall. Next to the bathroom is another smaller bamboo building in the form of a mushroom that hides the water tank and an even smaller one for the well.
The main species of bamboo used are Thyrsostachus species like Th. Oliveri and Th. Siamensis. Other species used are Dendrocalamus asper and Bamboosa spp. All bamboo was well selected by age and treated by soaking in a borax/boric acid solution.