ASA Journal 05/22

THE DETAIL OF SIMPLICITY
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ideas of how the work should be done. They work without any limitations or unpleasant work
culture created by toxic seniority or employer-employee relationships. Such a process enables
constructive exchanges and sharing of ideas among team members, allowing everyone to see
new possibilities from various aspects. Their ‘working tools’ are developed from their experiences
working on different types of projects as well as the members’ diverse interests, and the
result of the studio’s diverse work processes.
“Say we have 20 different methods or tools, we can integrate method 1 to method
17 for a project and choose a different tool to use with another project. All these
methods help create a new tool that can be further developed for our future works.”
The way STUDIO TOFU works is an incisive integration of experiences, understanding, testing
and processing to find the best possible method and approach to a particular work.
“At first, the amount of sketches we made were enormous. It was like that in the
first projects, but after a while, and many mistakes, we’ve gradually learned and
moved forward.”
“The Bound House, an incredible lesson and tremendous opportunity.”
“I think if we start with quality, from good space to great user experience, that will
lay the ground for the business. That’s where The Bound House originated.”
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The Bound House is an unprecedented housing estate project in Nakhon Pathom that STUDIO
TOFU has developed. By devising their experiences and expertise in designing various types
of residential projects, STUDIO TOFU developed The Bound House with the intention for it to
be different and focus, not on profit making but, more on people’s living experiences and the
quality of the neighborhood, environment and life.
“I wanted to develop a project of our own at one point but I wasn’t exactly sure when. But
that idea of wanting to develop a residential project that would allow me to take my decadelong
experiences and knowledge further was always at the back of my mind. When we were
about to start The Bound House, we paid attention to every detail. We had architects survey
the site, and we had a specialized team handling market research. The turning point was
when we did the in-depth interview with 6 prospective homeowners who were planning to
buy a house within that year. We were going to do 12 but the consultant firm said to start
with 6 and if all the 6 people’s opinions were unanimous we didn’t have to do the rest. The
age ranges of our interviewees were between thirties and sixties. The results we got were
mostly positive. What we thought from the standpoint of an architect who wanted to
design a house for sale was actually something that could really happen. It wasn’t just an
unrealistic idea or our own wishful thinking.
Weerapat started off The Bound House with discussions with his friends, each with experiences
in the fields needed for the development of this type of project. Many suggested that
he should kick off the brand with a project in Bangkok. “But we think it’s doable,” was what
Weerapat thought after receiving consultations from a number of people. When the team
began collecting data and doing the survey, they discovered that while many housing estate
projects put an extra emphasis on marketing strategies and promotions, very few were actually
focusing on the quality of the living space. Werrapat used that as the key starting point
of The Bound House. The first client of the project is a required governmental officer who
lives alone and doesn’t wish to be burdened by the maintenance of a house that is too big,
but rather a house that is easy to take care of and rightly suits his simple lifestyle. The client’s
view and demands correspond with the design concept behind The Bound House, which
aims to be a residential project for the life of the future with sufficient functional spaces that
require minimum maintenance, that are easy to clean with a foyer that brings in natural light,
while the house itself is designed to be energy-saving.