Designed by Skarn Chaiyawat Architects, Bangkok’s influential gallery Nova Contemporary has moved into a renovated shophouse in the city’s Sam Yan neighbourhood, its weathered surroundings subtly shaping the viewing experience.
When the need came for Nova Contemporary to find a new home to expand into, founder Sutima Sucharitakul looked for an architect who could draw out the character of both the neighbourhood and its shophouse, one of Southeast Asia's most recognisable urban forms. ‘We’re an international gallery, but I still wanted the Bangkok setting to register in a way you can’t achieve in a white cube,’ she says. Her confidence in Skarn Chaiyawat Architects grew from the value the owner and namesake places on Thai heritage, something she noted in his first solo project — monks’ living quarters and library for a Buddhist temple in the rural north-east of Thailand — and in the unforced way his buildings relate to their surroundings.