VMA Design Studio - Double B Hostel - Local Craft Global Design Bangkok's New Hostel Icon - Bangkok - Thailand

2025-06-11

VMA Design Studio has completed the Double B Hostel project, transforming a land plot with narrow street entry in Bangkok's historic old town district into a 27-room boutique hostel that bridges traditional wood craftsmanship with contemporary organic forms. The design creates an unexpected spatial sequence that draws visitors from Bangkok's narrow streetscape into a light-filled internal courtyard, where handcrafted wooden facades curve overhead like flowing timber waves.

The hostel stands in one of Bangkok’s old town communities where artisans have made Buddhist statues and religious artifacts for generations. The project connects visitors to the neighborhood’s living craft tradition and historic sites nearby. Like much of old Bangkok, the site faces a fundamental challenge: buildings developed organically over time now stand wall-to-wall, severely limiting natural light and ventilation to interior spaces.

Natural light became the primary driver for the design. This focus shaped an internal courtyard with a large glass roof that draws in daylight to brighten the hostel's central space. Due to the site's narrow street frontage in this dense urban setting, the design naturally shifts inward, positioning the courtyard as the project's main public area. Conceived as an internal alley, this courtyard draws visitors deeper into the building, connecting the street entry to the hostel's core. The wooden facade extends seamlessly from the street front into the interior space, flowing inward and rising up to clad the courtyard walls—transforming these internal surfaces into a secondary facade that continues the exterior's design approach.

This approach led to a unified facade treatment that works for both the street front and courtyard walls. The W-shaped profile catches natural light, giving the wooden surface visual depth. This facade element runs as a continuous extrusion from exterior to interior, pulling the building's character from street to courtyard and creating visual continuity throughout. For the making process, the team had to find an approach that works with regional construction capabilities. While using advanced computational design tools for development, the designers recognized that the local industry operates primarily through wet construction systems and onsite casting, rather than prefabricated elements. The team created a strategy that taps into these skills by developing simplified procedures using basic molds and standard hand tools. The wooden facade components are formed through hot air heating and bending over predetermined molds with clear instructions, allowing skilled local craftspeople to handle the complex geometries using their existing expertise.

The project uses two types of wood based on where they're needed. Reclaimed timber from an old warehouse that was part of the site was refinished for the internal courtyard facade and corridor ceilings. For the exterior, composite wooden rods were chosen to handle Bangkok's heat and humidity. This approach gives the old wood new life, while ensuring the facade can withstand the weather.

Each guest room features an integrated pocket lightbox—a recessed glass balcony with plants that draws natural light inward, while maintaining privacy from neighboring buildings. This internal lighting strategy extends into the courtyard, where planted balconies create an open-air garden atmosphere that relies on natural ventilation to stay comfortable. A large exhaust system pulls hot air upward from below the glass roof, drawing fresh air in at lower levels to keep the green spaces from becoming stagnant. The hostel works within Bangkok's dense urban constraints by layering these systems together—light, air, and greenery—to create internal spaces that feel open, breathable, and connected to nature and daylight.

“We started with a simple idea: to draw as much natural light as possible into the heart of the hostel and reconnect the building with the craft heritage of the neighborhood,” says Vichayuth Meenaphant, Principal at VMA Design Studio. “The flowing wooden facade is more than just an architectural exploration—it’s a bridge between tradition and innovation, shaped with advanced design tools, but relying on local hands and knowledge for making. It creates a space that feels open, bright, and rooted in the spirit of old Bangkok.”

About VMA Design Studio

VMA Design Studio is a Bangkok-based architecture and design studio that brings together local craft and advanced design tools to create spaces that are thoughtful, original, and rooted in purpose. Their approach is grounded in research and curiosity— always starting by deeply understanding each project's context, its users, and what's truly possible.

VMA Design Studio works across architecture, interior design, planning, and product design, developing solutions that respond meaningfully to each brief, while exploring new design possibilities. What sets them apart is how they combine Bangkok's rich craft traditions with contemporary design thinking, creating spaces that feel authentically connected to their place and the people who use them.

Photo credit: Art Chitsanupong - Peerapat Wimolrungkarat - Suppasit Sirinukulwattana