The Library | Tirawan Songsawat

Distractions are kept to a minimum at this graceful hotel complex set in 6,400 square metres of lush Thai beachfront in Koh Samui. Group designer Tirawan Songsawat has created a minimalist structure, preserving a heritage property at the water’s edge while intruding as little as possible on its ecology and aesthetics. The hotel’s 26 suite-studio cabins are scattered discreetly around the ground. These consist of a ground-floor suite space and a separate studio upstairs that offers
fabulous views of both the ocean and the old-growth trees that have been spared the developer’s bulldozer.
Guests may lose or indeed find themselves among vegetation interspersed with artwork, contrasting a bold colour scheme in which white, red, black and grey predominate: the Library’s exterior is white, the swimming pool red, the restaurant grey. Interiors follow the same ultra minimalist palette and feature low-slung, rectilinear furnishings that invite visitors to stretch out and listen to the lapping of the waves – or of course dive into the books in the exemplary library, the properties namesake. Plasma-screen televisions and broadband connections complement golden Buddhas and wooden shutters in a perfect balance of nature, comfort and art.