What does a typical warehouse look like? Opaque and bulky edifices in homogeneously industrial contexts or around marginalised residential neighbourhoods. Floors flooded in rising unkempt boxes of storage items, files above files scrambling for order, insufficiently-lit spaces with a sea of multi-tier racks and loading bays, and an inconsiderate design for social spaces. Where’s House Warehouse is anything but this.

An arresting lightness takes centre stage at this storage facility in the Bang Na district of Thailand. The building reveals a façade, composed of irregularly stacked cuboids, each featuring a different glass wall—from floor-to-ceiling encasement composed of glass blocks to walls made of frosted glass panes, and clear glass cabins. The facility, designed by Bangkok-based architectural studio pbm, is an office-warehouse hybrid located in a mixed-use context, marked by rows of industrial and residential buildings. The three-storey facility takes up space as an annexe to an existing warehouse for a local company that deals in importing vaccines and facilitates nutritional supplement distribution for the agricultural sector of Thailand. The design evolved from the idea of demystifying the boundaries that define how offices, homes, and neighbourhoods should look like. An expanded warehouse meant more space for storage, but what emerged was the need for spaces for living, working, and interaction. pbm took up the challenge to conceive a space where all activities are intertwined, without the visual load of a storage-heavy space. An ingenious use of glass allows a fluid flow of spaces spilling into each other, with modulating degrees of transparency.

The 2,000 sqm building has key service areas on the lower level. This includes loading an in and out dock, trailer truck parking, and the main warehouse. The workers’ dining space is also on this level, veiled inconspicuously from staircases, elevators and restrooms, through triple-height glass block walls. On the second floor is a mix of spaces for meeting and socialising—executive rooms, a lounge, a workspace and a recreational area in glazed walls—their privacy quotient guarded by automated louvres and floor-to-ceiling curtains. The third floor is a work-in-progress, seeking more expansion while also serving space for multi-purpose activities. The heart of the building is its light-filled inner court, animated by layers of glass walls, engulfing, in front and above. The use of glass blocks—as alternate wall sections to the exposed metallic grid of elevators, on the floor of connecting passages, and for the surface of steps that double as casual outdoor seating for workers—enhances the overall aesthetic. “This material not only reflects the business identity, focusing on distributing vaccines and livestock supplements for the agricultural sector but also emphasises cleanliness and hygiene,” says the design team.

The clarity and cleanliness of the aesthetic were achieved by replacing reinforced steel and mortar for the glass block installation with epoxy adhesive. The latter involved joining four glass blocks into a single set and sealing them with aluminium flat bars. The process ensured enhanced strength as well as minimised block seams compared to the traditional method where it was 10mm wide.

Rooted in the idea of ‘blurring the boundaries of architecture’, the building form despite weaving in various functions into a single structure, avoids being entirely enclosed. Abundantly lit through the day, natural light fills the court, transition spaces and meeting rooms, filtering through the generous apertures that sheath the structure.

But what is with the name ‘Where’s House Warehouse’? As per the design team, it simply connects to the idea of spaces spilling into each other, defying normative forms, layouts, and perspectives.