When at last—here’s hoping soon—comes the day that international flights once again roam the skies, and travelling is condoned safe and sound between countries, we know just the place to stay on your next tropical holiday that will make it all so worth the wait.

Berthed amidst the Gulf of Thailand, you’ll find the island of Koh Samui; on which exists a most beautiful stretch of beach, by the name of Chaweng. As if that picture weren’t already pretty enough, the talented Thai design duo known as Onion has gone and made the slice of sub-tropical heaven more enchanting still, with its design of Sala Samui Chaweng Resort.

Comprising two phases—Sala Chaweng Beachfront and Sala Chaweng Roadside—the Sala Samui Resort boasts expansive grounds that cater toward dual definitions of leisure. Bright and active, the Beachfront offering features a single, sprawling seaside courtyard with swimming pool. There socialites play. Over the way, Chaweng Roadside harbours an assortment of settings and spaces suited to guests who prefer their downtime. Abundant with nature and deliberately without linear circulation, the Roadside resort is passive, private and peaceful.

A thoughtful interplay of elemental contrasts—architecture and nature, light and shadow, simplicity and detail, interior and exterior, home and hotel—complement and balance one another to bring the harmonious Sala Chaweng Roadside resort into being.

“In every transition between the courtyards, we open the vertical voids in different shapes, sizes and materials,” says Onion. “We encourage our guests to look up to the sky and feel the warmth of the sun.” This salute to the sun has various material expressions throughout the architecture. For instance, the interstitial space between the public al fresco dining space and guestrooms is made interesting via layers of bamboo rectangle voids.

A dominant architectural element of Sala Chaweng Roadside are the lasting white walls. Elongated and robust, these formidable building blocks are sliced, as needed, in angles and arches.

“The effect of shadows was what we were interested in when we were drawing the walls,” say the designers. And suffice it to say that they achieved the desired effect artfully. Subtle shadows play off of the simple, monolithic elevations, resulting in spaces endowed with an atmosphere that borders on divine.

Colour appears on the walls of Sala Chaweng Roadside in one area only — the spa, which is finished in a dashing combination of deep teal and bubblegum pink painted surfaces, then complemented by teak furniture. “These coloured walls set a new spatial experience to our spa guests,” Onion explains. “As the sun moves, the light changes its direction, architecture becomes alive.”

Photography by Wworkspace

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Onion design studio has layers of experience