With a background in architecture and design, 57 year old Yuttana Piyatrakul is a businessman from Chiang Rai who has spent the last few years attempting to innovate architecture. “When famous historical inventors found electricity or invented the car, most thought they were crazy,” he said while introducing his designs. “But now we use them every day — and that is what I am trying to achieve. I want to move the building industry forward. It has been stagnating for years.”
Opening his well-prepared introduction booklet, he began to explain his vision. “This house, or villa, is made to spin,” he began. “The whole building spins. The bathroom, the bedroom, the living space. It all spins together.” The concept of spinning, apart from a change of view from time to time, is to help save energy by rotating into or away from the sun — helping the owner warm up or cool down their home without the use of conventional heaters, fans or air conditioners.
His first pilot project was created in his home town of Chiang Rai, with a system that he quickly patented with the help of his daughter. The basic design plumbs the needed cables and pipes to a middle section which is rotatable by a motor, which in turn spins the house. After three years of tweaking, the model house was completed, and the awards began streaming in. By 2016, his registered company Green Designs 360 Degree Co. Ltd. has accumulated over 20 awards and commendations from both national and
international press as well as government ministries. Some of his most prestigious accolades include winning the Thailand Energy Awards 2013 and being awarded the Energy Saving Housing Estate of the Year 2015 by the Ministry of Energy.
“After the pilot was completed, and people became interested, we were invited to help create the county’s first rotating hotel, Tanawasin Resort” Piyatrakul said. “But we want to make this accessible to anyone so anyone can buy the pre-fabricated 360 degree house, with prices starting as low as 800,000 baht. We offer solar panels and a wind turbine on most of our models. They help power not only the motor that spins it all, but can be used for appliances too.”
But that’s just the beginning of his vision. Piyatrakul is now planning his biggest project yet. De Lanna Grand 360 is a huge community of spinning homes on the outskirts of Chiang Rai. “I am investing 3.5 billion baht into this,” he said as he brought out a map of his planned community. It is packed with homes, condos, hotels, a shopping centre and even a water park. “I intend to have a zone for rentals, a zone for buyers, and a zone for hotels.”
This project, made possible by fellow investors, will take around two years to complete and will consist entirely of rotating villas, homes and condos. That wasn’t a typo. Rotating Condos. 360 degree rotation on each floor — giving every tenant control of what view they want to enjoy while in the bath, “You can watch the sunset over the mountains in your living room and then go to bed and wake up to the same view.” Piyatrakul also plans to rent out some of the higher end condos by the night, charging up to 1.5 million baht per night for those willing to splash out. “Free champagne, women, private world class chefs, famous musicians playing private gigs…” you name it, he’s got it.
Each build, with its solar panels, wind turbines and the ability to move in and out of the sun, can potentially run entirely off the power grid. Whether there will be enough interest is yet to be seen, but given the awards he’s received and the extensive press coverage, there is definitely interest in his design, and he says that he is already being approached by many projects wishing to utilise his innovation. Citylife will keep you posted on this development as, if and when, it materialises.
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