A Family Home in Khao Yai, Raised Above a Garden for the Cows

IDIN Architects elevates a single-storey family home in Pak Chong, reinterpreting the traditional Thai house on stilts in concrete and timber

In Pak Chong District near Khao Yai, this home was designed as an extension to an existing family house, responding to changing routines and the need for a larger shared space. Elevated to align with the rooftop of the original house — now a guest house — the new building retains the panoramic mountain views, while the open ground below becomes a garden where the family’s cows can move freely. The arrangement recalls the traditional elevated Thai house, reinterpreted in a contemporary register.

At the centre of the home is an open living area that flows into the dining space and kitchen, extending outward to a continuous balcony. A double-layered facade of full-height glass and operable aluminium louvres in a wood-grain finish filters sunlight and heat, and can be closed when the family is away. Concrete forms a calm backdrop, while timber introduces warmth across the interiors. In the kitchen, an island in Green India stone anchors the space at the point of arrival.

Rather than express Thai identity through literal or nostalgic gestures, the home responds through climate, openness and the way the family lives within it. Named W House II, the project takes its cue from IDIN Architects’ founding principle — Integrating Design into Nature.

Images by DOF Sky|Ground