ASA JOURNAL 01-59

"Na Lah House is located amidst the nature in
Amphoe Pua, Nan Province and the location of the house
was selected by the architects. Generally, the owner of
the project has a piece of land and a proposal regarding
the overall project. Na Lah House began with a question
from the owner who wanted to construct a wooden house
and stay in the North. Therefore, Yangnar Studio traveled
to the area to look for a place and found an interesting site
in Nan province. It was just geographically appropriate
and had a sense of cultural uniqueness as well. Hence,
Na Lah house began and slowly developed through the
collaboration of the architects and the local carpenters.
The period of work could be divided into 2 phases, the
first being the preparation of the materials, including the
collection of wood from old houses, and the second being
the actual construction period.
All the wood that was used in the construction was
selected entirely from various old houses that were located
nearby. The actual selection of the wood depended on
various factors such as the size, height, quantity, condition
and transportation of the wood as well, the architects
themselves traveling to the sites and spending time
to select the most appropriate woods before actually
demolishing the houses and entering the process of
preparing the wood. The team had to further reflect on
the right size and quantities that would be required and
this initial stage ultimately took around two months time.
"During the first two months we had to work without
electricity and water, a point we had overlooked when
selecting the location, but we were able to learn about
the lifestyle and how to deal with various problems from
the ancient craftsmen, they themselves having very basic
tools. Even during the stages of drawing the designs
where everything, including the height and width, were
done by hand and adjusted along the way, the exchange
of ideas with the craftsmen proved to be an integral part
of the process - as they possessed vast experiences
different from our own, hence our visualizations of beauty
and theirs also differed. This situation proved to be a daily
challenge that we faced."
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