Koh Samui Rock Villa - A Contextually Sculpted Villa for Wellness and Contemplation

Positioned along the south-west edge of Koh Samui, this new villa by Rigby & Rigby occupies a site of uncommon topographic and visual richness. Twenty minutes from the airport yet distinctly secluded, the site is defined by its triangulated field of views: a protected bay to the east, the open Gulf of Thailand directly ahead, and a chain of five islands stretching across the horizon. A steep, vegetated hillside rises behind. The architecture is conceived as a direct response to this multidirectional panorama.

Rather than adopting a singular linear bar or pavilion, the villa takes the form of a tricorn plan—a geometry generated by the convergence of its three primary vistas. Each wing rotates toward its own focal point, maximising orientation while creating a subtle torsion in the building’s massing. This formal strategy produces façades that are inherently site-specific, each calibrated to the quality of light it receives.

The programme is organised as a three-bedroom residence with generous living terraces and a cantilevered main volume that projects over the cliff. This cantilever not only frames the ocean views but also reduces ground disturbance, allowing the natural rock formations and vegetation to remain largely intact. A carefully integrated parking area and a stepped herb garden reinforce the villa’s quietly embedded presence within the landscape.

Materiality plays a key role in mediating between constructed space and the natural terrain. Clean concrete, tactile timber, and finely detailed aluminium glazed elements form a restrained palette that responds to the coastal climate while maintaining a sense of crafted refinement. Openings are choreographed to reveal views, emphasising the villa’s dialogue with its context rather than presenting it all at once.

The resulting villa is not a standalone object but a site-driven architecture—one in which wellness, landscape and structure are interdependent, and where every spatial decision is anchored in the character of Koh Samui’s remarkable coastal setting.