ASA Journal 12/2023

ECO ARCHITECT
123
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สมาชิก Eco Architect
Khamron Sutthi, the founder and principal architect of Eco Architect, is a firm
believer that architecture and ecology must be viewed as inseparable entities.
Khamron has demonstrated an unchanging architectural identity and approach
to architectural design throughout his career and via his expanding body of work.
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Experiences outside of textbooks
Since his first year as an architecture student at Khon Kaen University, Khamron Sutthi’s
summer breaks have consisted of him traveling into the jungle, spending time with himself,
and interning. He used his internship to enhance and expand his abilities, knowing what he
was still lacking in the career path he chose. At the time, there were just a few architecture
firms in Khon Kaen where he could pursue an internship. Throughout his first three years of
college, he chose Bangkok-based studios to do his internship. As he began his fourth year of
studies, Khamron discovered that the Bangkok lifestyle wasn’t right for him. He began looking
for studios outside of the capital city before settling on an internship with a Phuket-based
firm. This internship was a watershed moment for him, propelling him to launch and pursue
a career as a professional architect on this southern island in the Andaman Sea.
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คารน สุทธิ ผู้ก่อตั้ง
Eco Architect
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บรรยากาศการทางาน
ของ Eco Architect
Khamron decided to leave his job as an architect at a Phuket-based firm after two years
and work as a freelancer. The choice was yet another turning point in his life, eventually
leading to the establishment of Eco Architect years later. He was offered the opportunity
to design a house for a foreigner living in Phuket during his freelance days. Because of
his expertise in contemporary architectural design, Khamron created a structure that was
contemporary both in form and component, an aesthetic that was considered popular at the
time. But the ultimate outcome was far from what he had hoped for. The completed building
was nearly unlivable. The cool-looking abode he imagined became a living oven packed with
scorching hot air. The project’s unsatisfactory end fundamentally altered his perspective and
way of thinking about architectural design. Because of this realization, as well as the fact
that the majority of Phuket’s geographical landscape is comprised of hillside and sloped
lands, Khamron developed expertise in working with cliff-top landscapes and sites located
high above ground level, which involve elaborate details and complications and necessitate
extensive and in-depth knowledge and understanding. After designing multiple homes for
foreign clients, the most preferred architectural style among this group of clients is the
‘traditional Thai house from the central area of Thailand.’ Khamron, who used to wonder
whether the architectural elements of a traditional Thai house from the central region would
fit clients’ functional requirements and the context of the sites on an island in the south,
eventually realized over time that the style and components of a traditional Thai house from
central Thailand can be applied to the local context of Phuket and produce surprisingly
ideal results.
The experiences he has gained over the course of his seven years of work have manifested,
and he can now see a clearer picture of the direction of his architectural design and philosophy.
Khamron chose to pursue a master’s degree in Eco Architecture Innovations and
Design, which led him to understand that nature is full of mysteries he doesn’t know about
that are valuable to this planet—things that people often ignore or take for granted. After
graduating, he used his newly accumulated knowledge to launch his own architecture firm,
Eco Architect.
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We wish to create a coexisting ecosystem and architecture.
Eco Architect was created with the intention of incorporating ecosystems into architectural
design. “Being at ease and in harmony with nature is at the heart of every design because
we desire a healthy ecosystem and architecture that can coexist.” Since its inception, the
goal of Eco Architect has remained the same.