Residence Raintree

This high-end residential building is located in the center of Bangkok’s bustling urban district. Sitting on Rama 4 Road, one of the major arteries of the city, we needed to create for the residents a connection to nature while also promoting a better living environment. By maximizing green areas, drawing an inviting pedestrian passage, and providing a semi-public garden at the front yard, the landscape helps to blur the sharp line of this exclusiveness, thus contributing to the greening effort of the nearby streets and footpaths. The close collaboration with the architects and engineers has also fostered a creative integration of landscape and architecture. The man-made "Green Mountain" wrapping the low-rise car park building is one of the essential features in response to the growing issues of urban heat island, glare effect, and increasing urban runoffs.

Living in such a such a convenient and dynamic location comes with a high price, environmentally. The surrounding busy roads spout air and noise pollution. The surrounding density of the high-rise urban skyline means limited open spaces and ventilation. Well-aware of the challenges, the landscape team came up with a simple yet effective holistic greening approach. As a result, the landscape becomes an integral part of the design that could enliven this urban habitat again. The final design consists of three key landscape components: the Entry Garden, the Urban Mountain, and the Rooftop Multi-leveled Pool and Observation Deck.

We established a smooth pedestrian access ramp at the entry level of the building to encourage the residents to use public transport and travel on foot. The pedestrian passage is lined with a feature wall on one side, and shallow cascading water feature on the other to create a conceptual transition from the busier streets outside to the more relaxing garden inside.

To try to work within the limited space, our team sought to limit paved driveway areas, maximize the soft landscape and, in the process, create a sizable frontal sunken garden. Although merely consisting of a simple green area, a group of evergreen and deciduous trees, and a series of seat walls integrating into the undulating ground, this garden acts as the catalyst for the inclusive and seamless urban green connection in many ways. For instance, the low boundary wall allows for visual linkage, mitigating the impact of abrupt public and private segregation. The trees within the garden are planted close enough to form a future interconnected canopy with the existing street trees on the other side of the wall, providing continuous shade to the footpath. Lastly, the overall significant undulating soft landscape helps to counter heat absorption, reduce surface runoffs, and create a pleasant green environment for the tenants and commuters.

The low-rise front of the building houses an entry lobby, a coffee shop, and a five-story car park and forms the focal point of every approach. We saw an opportunity to cover the entire structure with plants, resembling a “Green Mountain” with various textures and foliage that breathes life into the bold dark-colored high-rise building behind. The plants in many forms and layers act as a soft shield protecting the building from absorbing too much heat, and the stepping terraces planted with trees also help to filter dust from the roads and help absorb pollution emanating from the car park.  before reaching the garden on its peak. These stepped terraces are intentionally created not for people but to provide a shelter to encourage visits from birds.

The garden at the top of the Green Mountain screens the bare roof and prevents glare from disturbing the residents living above it. The prevalent use of softscape areas contrasts with the hardscape areas that exist in the form of sunken courtyards filled with gravel beds, which filter and convey water back into the surrounding softscape, successfully tackling the issue of stormwater discharge into the city’s main pipes. These sunken gravel courtyards also break down the vast scale of the roof, creating rooms for various activities and encouraging more interaction amongst the residents.

Covering most of the floor area on the 49^th rooftop floor, the swimming pool takes full advantage of the unobstructed view of the city skyline by extending its arms out, allowing space for a proper lap pool, kids' pool, and Jacuzzis. The lap pool occupies the uninterrupted southern edge that opens up to the majestic and panoramic view of Bangkok city skyline.

Instead of placing one pool next to another on the same level, the landscape team thought beyond a flat plane and created a series of multi-tiered pools, with several Jacuzzis placed higher than the rest. The raised structures also free up extra room for other pool facilities such as outdoor showers and supporting mechanical systems. The use of light material colors of the pool underlines the simple rectangular forms and makes the pools seem larger than they are.

The rooftop gym and shared business center float above the pool level. Underneath the structure lies an observation deck consisting of several group seating areas. Framed by columns, these areas create semi-outdoor living rooms while also profiting from the extensive northeastern skyline. The plant selection here aims to soften the sharp building edges and reflect the amount of sunlight each area receives. Located further back under the building’s overhang, more shade-tolerant shrubs with big leaves are widely used, while the spaces totally open to the sky are filled with flowering fine-leaved shrubs and trees, creating contrast in textures and sensory garden.

The simple rectangular designs and straight lines with rounded corners inspire the overall landscape composition. The forms, similar to the building’s shape, are applied throughout the entire development, which helps to bind the architecture and landscape together and create a well-integrated urban living experience