The Politan Breeze is a low-rise residential condominium project along the Chao Phraya River located in Nontaburi within a ten-minutes’ walk to Phra Nang Klao MRT purple line. The existing site condition is used to be an abandoned wood warehouse which was part of a previous wood trade along the river. Nowadays, this section of Chao Phraya River still retains local riverfront settlements and its relationship with local people’s activities such as boating, fishing, and swimming. Politan Breeze has transformed an abandoned space into the new riverfront residential project.

Landscape Design Concept

In a prime location along the river of life,Chao Phraya, the design team proposed to integrate the soul of traditional Thai riverfront settlement with contemporary living lifestyle of a low-rise residential condominium. The design invites residents to enjoy intimate natural resort experience, while perceiving nostalgia of former local riverside settlements.

The design team has fulfilled the client’s vision of setting up a new standard for quality living of a middle-sized development project. The designers paid attention to details and their design of a public green space gives the residents an ultimate resort outdoor experience.

With unique site settings, the design team interpreted the concept of river-centric Thai settlement to form a central green space by using water as a key landscape element that harmoniously ties the built landscape together with a natural river context. The Water as the highlight offers various outdoor spaces including; sunken pond, kid’s pool and infinity pool that celebrate the successful and beautiful resort atmosphere.

The landscape design idea is derived from the Thai concept of “Bang”. The of “Bang” refers to the settlement areas along the naturally formed distributary canal of the river. The landscape architects interpreted the concept of “Bang” to form a central green space that was integrated into the surrounding modern residential buildings.

Design Programs

The green space is long and narrow, however the designers overcame this challenge by proposing the space to gradually get larger therefore creating a wider perception toward the river. The designers aimed at giving residents the ultimate outdoor experience to compensate for the limited room area by creating the sense of an expanding social space. Water and plant materials are the key landscape elements used to create a variety of outdoor activities along this green corridor. The programs included; Politan garden walk, Politan Sunken Pond, Kid Pool and Swimming Pool

Politan Garden Walk

The welcome area connects to the narrow path that is purposed to be the serene Politan garden walk featuring a series of decorated pavilion that form the frame leading visitor’s vista to the river. The resting seats at the pavilions offer a tranquil and immersive ambience for private relaxation. The designers strategically capture a spectacular scene created when sunshine reflects on the river showing a dynamic glittering effect which inspires a unique pattern of decorated pavilion. The tilted angle of the pavilion illustrates lively, dynamic line that create an intriguing garden walking experience. Using layers of tropical vegetation, the designers highlight the pavilion and narrow space, as well as create privacy for the rooms on the ground floor.

Politan Sunken Pond

From the narrow garden walk, the residents will be stunned by the expansion of the space. Using water and dynamic design line, the designers create a visual connection to the swimming pool and the river. At the Politan Pond, the seats are designed to be sunken into the water to give illusion of wider space, while also promoting the sense of immersion with natural aqua plants. The edge of sunken pond give the sense of living close to water and being surrounded by a resort atmosphere.

Infinity Edge Pool and Kid Pool

The highlight of the green space is the infinity pool that is raised up to create extensive breath-taking view of the river.( The designer chose White Glass Mosaic to make the pool looks larger. ) The sound of water overflowing offers the sense of relaxation and also act as water feature wall, welcoming the residents to riverfront zone. One special feature of the swimming pool is the rows of Plumeria fragipani .The trees celebrate the space with unique form of multi-trunk, from the edge leaning in over the pool forming a frame vision toward the river. The trees also provide shade and the sense of soothing from the aromatic odor of their flowers.

Environmental Impact and Design Concerns

To deal with flood issues, the designers collaborated closely with client and engineer to have two layers of flood protection wall. The inner protection was raised up to 1.20 m. from the existing wall, protecting the site from higher flood level. Along the waterfront, The designers proposed to expand soft-slope river bank area to give more room for water fluctuation up to 9.5 meters wide from the river. The terrace on the slope acts as filter strips to purify run-off water before flowing into the river, making it more adaptable to the river fluctuation.

The main intention of the riverfront landscape planting design is to reintroduce native shrubs and trees, adding in more variety of planting species to create biodiversity of the area. New Plant materials chosen are the types that can tolerate river water fluctuation, high underground water level and salt water intrusion such as Sea Lettuce, Scevola taccada (Gaertn.) Roxb., Elaeocarpus hygrophilus Kurz.,and Weeping Willow, Salix Babylonica L.The green gaps created between concrete path allows run-off water to infiltrate into the ground.

Collaboration

During the design and construction process, landscape design team has been working closely with the architect and horticulturist to ensure the client’s satisfaction of creating a successful and beautiful landscape. The landscape design of Politan Breeze with its built in resort quality sets a higher standard for middle-sized residential project.

Project information
Building : Residential condominium 8-storey 4 buildings and car park 7-storey 1 building
Unit: 587 Units and 3 shops
Unit type: 1 and 2 Bedroom
Project area: Approximately 12,340 square meters
Design area: 6,217 square meters

Architect: Palmer & Turner (Thailand) Ltd.

Construction Management: Stonehenge Inter Co., Ltd.

Contractor: 1. Syntec Construction PCL. (Hardscape)
2. Rabieng Bua Garden Co., Ltd. (Softscape)

Project location: Soi Nonthaburi 15, Sanambinam Road, Bang Kraso Sub-district, Mueang Nonthaburi District, Nonthaburi, Thailand 11000

Design year: 2015

Year Built: 2018

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