Baannai The Reminiscence

Our initial intention for Baannai the Reminiscence project was to refurbish the original Baannai by restructuring the house and open it as a hotel. However, the original Baannai was quite small since it was in a family-living size. In addition, the overall conditions of the house structure pose a risk for a long-term use as a hotel. Therefore, we finally decided to rebuild a new Baannai by expanding the size of the house to accommodate the facilities and the number of visitors, and enhanced some aspects to emphasize the beauty of the architecture of its time. The layout was still based on the original floor plan, each room was positioned as close as possible to how it once was. This is the emotional fulfillment as the owner. 

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The decoration of Baannai hotel was based on the three Baannai Ladies, starting from the logo or the symbol of Baannai: Three flowers combined as one. It represents the love and harmony of these three deeply emotionally-related sisters. 

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- The outer layer (protection) is the aster, representing the eldest sister. The aster symbolizes high class, dignity, virtue and loyalty. 

- The middle layer (warmth) is the jasmine, representing the middle sister. It symbolizes warmth, grace and purity. 

- The inner layer (care) is the white rose, representing the youngest sister. The white rose symbolizes love and charms. It stands for pure love that is cherished.

 

The doors and window from the original Baannai are kept as a reminder. They had a higher value than other items because Baannai was renovated throughout different periods of time. People back then would remove the doors and windows that still functioned well and reinstalled them after renovation. We noticed this different match in the house and turned it into the main decoration of Baannai to reminisce the past and to leave a symbol that this Baannai would last for a long time, to maintain love and harmony that sealed the gap between the old days and the present.