Patrick Keane on Design and His Boundary Pushing Ecological Agenda

The Founder and Director of award-winning architecture firm Enter Projects Asia opens up about the importance of embracing sustainable design and exciting projects currently in the pipeline, including a new, eco-centric airport terminal in India.

Established in 2005 in Sydney, Australia, and now headquartered in Phuket, Enter Projects Asia (EPA) is considered a regional leader in the creation of landmark buildings and interior design projects that are functional, eye- catching and, most interestingly, crafted from an array of sustainable materials. In many ways, it encourages us to imagine what our future world may look like.

Some of EPA’s landmark local projects include the award-winning Spice & Barley restaurant, the Vikasa Yoga Headquarters, and the towering XANA Beach Club Pavilion at Angsana Laguna Phuket. Within this year alone, the team has been expanding their portfolio with a new airport, which will also become the largest sustainable built space in existence when completed later this year. Founder and Director Patrick Keane spills the beans on his commitment to sustainable design, and his exciting plans for the future.

What was the impetus for establishing EPA, and how has the business grown in the last few years?

When moving to Asia, we wanted to ensure that our projects had a context in Thailand and give them an Asian fusion identity. It was about looking at age-old arts, crafts and materials, and introducing them into a contemporary design context on a wider scale, not just as an accessory. Our business grew exponentially throughout Covid-19, at least 10-fold in regard to design, and even more in production. The pandemic gave time for people to focus, and it made it abundantly clear that sustainable principles are here to stay. We were fortunate to ride the wave and really worked hard on design reinvention.

Have you seen an increase in clients looking to incorporate sustainable design into their projects?

Yes, clients nowadays are very well educated in this sphere and come to see us with ideas that need to be fleshed out. Take for example Banyan Tree. The upcoming generation of directors are looking to turn things upside down, as they successfully did in Bali, and innovate as they did with their first pool villa 35 years ago. For all our clients we have a circular feedback loop taking place between us and them; it’s both creative and intense.

Can you walk us through what you prioritise throughout your design processes?

We aim to go beyond clients’ expectations, have relevance in society, make the project say something about contemporary issues, and have it suggest solutions to those – the big one being the environment and waste. And, finally, it’s about taking risks. We make sure through the design process that the outcomes are unique, and the combinations are unprecedented.

How do you conceptualise your designs?

We delve a lot into principles from nature, so forms in our surrounding trees, plants, and mineral formations. And also, natural behaviours such as clouds, smoke, and steam. For our materials, we go local, always!

What kind of technology are you leveraging to make these designs possible?

We’re working a lot with artificial intelligence. We’ve seen a big shift lately in the usage of AI so we are exploring this through working with a software called Midjourney, which allows us to create new ideas, forms, and building methods for the future of design.

Alongside EPA, you’ve also launched ‘Project Rattan’. Why focus on this material specifically?

This initiative was fostered during the lockdown due to the relationships we had developed with local artisans and craftsmen. So, it was primarily an initiative to give them work. We saved three factories and kept the arts and crafts scene alive and thriving during those darker days. Rattan has been used for generations in the form of furniture and baskets etc, so we established an R&D department to figure out how we could create this level of detail and craft on a larger scale for people to enjoy.

Why is it important to you to include local artisans in your work?

It’s everything to us. Our designers learn from them and they learn from us. Instead of an artisan making a basket or chair, it can be an entire commercial interior shipped to Belgium, in huge pieces to be assembled like a jigsaw puzzle. If we don’t embrace this opportunity, these artisans are under direct threat by the importation of cheap plastics products from countries like China – and many of them turn to menial tasks and jobs like taxi driving. We have over 40-60 people working with us now, depending on workload, stemming from all over Thailand.

You’re currently working on a Departure Terminal for Bangalore Airport, India, can you offer some details about this mountainous project?

In total, it’s a 120,000-square-metre airport expecting 20 million visitors a year. The client is after a garden city concept in keeping with Bangalore, and we wanted to introduce tactility in an environment that is considered clinical and antiseptic, so it’s great to introduce sustainable principles and natural materials to an infrastructure scale. Our retail area is 10,000 square metres and we are using over 9km of all-natural rattan, which offers a physical and emotional feel-good factor, as this would be usually plastic or metal.

What can we look forward to from you in the near future?

We are constantly in a state of reinvention at Enter Projects Asia, so we don’t have the answer fully, but in a sense that is the answer. We have a good base and great people now, looking to diversify and scale the business, our work, our concepts, and finally our products. We all have healthy egos and build with confidence and awareness. I personally hope to contribute to a great future in design, shining a light on Thailand and the unique skills base here which is integral to the culture of the country.

For more information about Enter Projects Asia, click here.

The information in this article is accurate as of the date of publication.

ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7sb7ErKuin5Wku621zZ5lnKedZMGpe8%2BepqmklWS2r3nFqJquq1%2BlrrW%2ByJyiZqOVlrumecOeo6%2Bdo2K2r8DOZp%2Bor12dtrR51qippGWdlr%2BztcSsZJyqkZvBtLnAp6qhoaBixKrAx2aYZpqfqrulrdGyZKmto522r7OMnpqopJ%2BctqSty2aYoJ2ema5w