Ugly house contest going on?

[STEVE G]

Chas, I know what you mean about Palm Hill, I have yet to see all of it but I was up there about a month ago and I was surprised at how many houses are being built there, jumbled together, and you are dead right about the styling.

I am curious to see the roman Temple; that sounds kind of interesting, I will go and have a look next time I’m around.

I have learnt that there is absolutely no limit to what people will build in asia, I remember a house on a golf development in Jakarta that had a huge gold pissing cherub fountain outside, and apartment complexes that made communist Rumanian architecture look graceful!

[splitlid]

it amazes me how people are willing to spend heaps of money on a house which looks shite and has a resale value of next to nothing.

oh sorry.......they think it has a resale value of double what it cost to build.but in reality( a place most expats have forgottern about) no-one in their right mind would ever buy it.

[Gutte]

Seeing this thread is still alive, will we get to see the promised photos, or..?

I can agree with a lot of what has been said, but I don’t think Palm Hills or Hua Hin are any worse than other places in Thailand. Look at Bangkok for example – this city seems to have grown without any plans at all and without any supervision of ideas whatsoever.

A number of years ago I had plans to settle down somewhere in the south of France some time in the future. I changed my mind and went for Thailand instead, a decision I certainly haven’t had any regrets about so far. The one thing I miss is – you got it! – the nice houses and villages to look at when taking a walk or sitting in the car. Here, all I can do is to forget about that and try not to miss it too much. It’s a pity.

Another thing, though: I sense a kind of bitterness or something in quite a few of the posts here. I can’t help but wonder if your own houses are any better. Perhaps your own houses are just as ugly as the ones you are complaining about, only that you can blame someone else because you just rent the little charmless place. Does the bitterness come from a feeling that, in renting instead of buying/building, perhaps you have missed a train or something?

Gutte

[silverbird]

[quote="Chas"]OK. Tell me the truth. Is there a contest going on for who can build the ugliest house in Palm Hills?

Some newly rich people seems to have such a strong belief in themselves that they can not care less about what other people think. Those are the one that quite often complain a lot about other peoples opinions and taste - guess why? Thank you Chas for putting the focus on something that is very important - to design a house require skill in the same way as it requires skill to build a good house.

[Jockey]

Many ugly buildings being built by ugly people.

[egeefay]

No matter where you live you will find a style that you think is ugly.

A walk around my neighborhood and I pass a house with porcelain lions at the front gate, a ugly Greco Roman looking house with columns, and ultra contemporary house built around rock outcroppings, a charming victorian house with tiny rooms.

But just as sure as I criticize their tastes, there are probably ten other folks who pass by my house and wonder how anyone could be so tasteless.

I think we are too critical of how other people acts, speak, dress and live.
I have enough shortcomings to worry about without having to judge other people's tastes in houses.

[silverbird]

Yeah, Egeefay i agree with your comment". No matter where you live you will find a style that you think is ugly". Personal taste is just a personal taste - thanks!

But - bearing in mind what is built in the HH-area at the moment I think focus should shift from what is ugly or not to what is bad quality. Remember that most new developers use contractors that hire labour having most the time absolutely no experience in what they are supposed to do here! Quite often the developer have no building experiences as well.

This means that the big topic of the coming years is likely to be badly built houses - which will not only slow down new constructions but also slow down the second hand market a lot. Maybe this will hurt farangs more than the big subject of today "farangs not allowed to own land in Thailand"?

[egeefay]

I live in a house built by a contractor who clearly was after the money.
It wasn't until I moved in that I began seeing defects appear...leaky wondows, tiles that hadn't been nailed properly, appliances that stopped working after a couple of years.

And I live in the USA where there is some building standards and inspections and a ten year warranty on major construction.

Imagine buying a house in Thailand where there are few inspections, few building codes , only a one year warranty on the house, and where anyone can be a contractor (???)

I can imagine the horror stories that people have to tell.

My sister-in-law lives in a nice housing development in Bangkok. Several of the houses have been vacant for over 5 years. You can see what crappy craftsmanship goes into the houses: concrete driveways that are cracking, slabs of concrete lifted up, black mold where paint use to be, cracked wood window frames. And her house was built by a reputable builder. She said they had to redo their driveway after a few years after it started cracking and lifting up in places.

We are planning to build a house on some property we bought in Hua Hin.
Our biggest fear is dealing with builders in Thailand. Seems like there are cowboys and some good builders. Trying to determine who is who is the problem we worry about.

When people are only out to make a living and take no pride in the work they do and the products they make...be prepared to be disappointed

[Jockey]

[samlorsam]

The problem with Palm Hills is that the management doesn’t give a toss about how ugly the house is, how bad the design is, as long as the plots are sold and they have the dosh.
Who in their right mind wants to buy a plot or house at PH to find that the arsxxxxx next door comes along and builds right up to your boundary fence, a massive house with 6 holiday chalets in the garden, which I am sure are all for rental.
As for design it’s easy to pick out the ones designed by the same company of architects. There are not many real architects in HH. Just go to their offices and they will show you their “books of designs” which you can buy in any a good bookstore.
Not an original creative thought amongst them, but then who can blame them! When idiot Falang friends with lots of money and zero taste build 3 almost identical houses next door to each other along the 7th fairway, and when the management at Palm Hills allow falangs to build luxury council estates just inside their entrance.

[HansMartin]

We have a winner!! And it only costs 16.0M Bhat.

[Jaime]

[splitlid]

http://property.huahinafterdark.com/viewimage.php?ID=152&type=H&for=S&image=subimage3

or this one prehaps

[caller]

The pool looks nice!

Why on earth build a 4 storey house in LOS? Unless, as appears here, there isn't much ground? Is there another identical house behind it?

It really is a monstrosity to this layman. Nice wide windows though.
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I know nothing

[Jaime]

I've seen far worse - at least it isn't pretending to be something it isn't - like a badly designed temple or a 'traditional' Thai house in concrete . It looks like an economical modernist box of four stories - possibly to achieve sea views(?) - and it's difficult to see from the photos whether the massing has been influenced by any nearby constraints. Also difficult to see whether the materials add any sense of quality to the building close up. Amazingly for Thailand, it's form actually looks quite rational. I can imagine it being a nice beach house.

One thing I have learned as an architect is that you have to see things in-situ to get a proper sense of a place. A prime example being Mies van der Rohe's Barcelona Pavilion, which I always found particularly underwhelming in photographs but which is a revelation when you get inside. And before anyone mentions it, NO I am not comparing this property with Mies' pavilion!
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"Why limit yourself to the death of a crummy celery stalk when you can eat a giraffe?" - PWEETA