Textured terracotta brick walls frame a timber portico entrance, where hand-painted fish motifs decorate the pivoting wooden doors. A fishbone-patterned timber screen shades the upper storey, while a green mosaic-tiled plinth displaying a drum-inspired ornament and lush planting soften the threshold as a staff member steps inside.

Laku Beach Club: Studio Locomotive's Riviera-Inflected Retreat on Phuket's Coconut Island

Words by Yatzer

Coconut Island, Phuket, Thailand

A short boat ride from Phuket, Coconut Island offers a peaceful antidote to the island’s bustling crowds. It is in this spirit that Phuket-based Studio Locomotive has transformed a former vacation house into Laku Beach Club, an all-day beachside restaurant and bar whose design balances tropical exuberance with Mediterranean soulfulness. Drawing from the rituals, seafaring knowledge and deep reverence for nature of the local sea people along the Andaman coast, the studio has translated this intangible heritage through a design language that also nods to the artisanal ease of the French Riviera. Organic forms, sculptural furniture, natural materials and a sun-warmed palette animated by flashes of green and marine motifs come together to create a carefully layered sense of place.

Working within the confines of the existing two-storey building, Studio Locomotive’s key challenge was to convert an intimate domestic structure into a dynamic hospitality destination without erasing its original framework. The result is a fluid sequence of spaces defined by shifts in level, seating typologies and framed views. Sightlines are carefully orchestrated towards the beach, pool, bar and DJ booth, allowing each zone to feel distinct while remaining visually connected to the landscape and to the convivial pulse of the club.

A dining table set with white plates, cutlery bundled in burnt-orange napkins and a small ceramic elephant figurine sits beneath a sculptural angular fish artwork in yellow, white and green. Cream brick tiling and warm timber panelling frame the scene, with woven rattan chairs pulled up to the table.

Photography by Pichan Sujaritsatit.

Viewed from the pool, the two-storey timber structure reveals its layered programme: an open-air bar below, hung with round paper lanterns, and a dining terrace above furnished with rattan chairs. Two swimmers pause at the water's edge, framing the building's warm cladding against a bright tropical sky.

Photography by Pichan Sujaritsatit.

Seen from the pool, the two-storey timber building unfurls a dramatic curved roofline reminiscent of an upturned hull, its folding glazed facade opened to the tropical air. Palm trees and dense greenery frame the structure, with a pale stone pool deck stepping down towards turquoise water.

Photography by Pichan Sujaritsatit.

Textured terracotta brick walls frame a timber portico entrance, where hand-painted fish motifs decorate the pivoting wooden doors. A fishbone-patterned timber screen shades the upper storey, while a green mosaic-tiled plinth displaying a drum-inspired ornament and lush planting soften the threshold as a staff member steps inside.

Photography by Pichan Sujaritsatit.

A dark timber-lined lounge corner brings together a fish-shaped ceramic vessel and stacked stoneware on a built-in shelf, a hand-appliquéd wall hanging patterned with red and black fish motifs, and rattan armchairs upholstered in green palm-leaf print. Green-and-cream mosaic flooring and a slatted timber screen complete the layered, artisanal atmosphere.

Photography by Pichan Sujaritsatit.

Materiality and pattern do much of the storytelling. Timber, rattan, terracotta and terrazzo lend the spaces a tactile warmth, enhanced by curvaceous forms and handcrafted details, while nature-inspired motifs further animate the surfaces. On the exterior, the striated timber underside of the pergola takes inspiration from seashore screwpine leaves, traditionally woven into mats; inside, this botanical reference resurfaces in woven rattan furniture and mosaic tiling. Elsewhere, marine life swims into the details: carved angelfish door handles, fish-scale markings etched into timber wall panels, and playful, oversized fishbone motifs across the terrazzo flooring on the upper level.

Fishbone motifs also appear on the ground-floor bar counter, one of the project’s most expressive gestures. Its terrazzo surface, animated by abstract sea-life patterns, is paired with dark cylindrical stools and sculptural boat-prow-shaped light pendants, whose rope detailing recalls the techniques used in crafting Rebana drums. Similar rope detailing can be found in the poolside music booth, extending the project’s dialogue between maritime memory, craft and festivity.

Boat-prow-shaped pendant lights, their timber hulls bound in yellow rope, hang low over a terrazzo bar etched with an abstract green fish pattern. A bartender arranges greenery at the counter, dark cylindrical stools and sculptural log seating in the foreground, with the sea stretching out beyond.

Photography by Pichan Sujaritsatit.

Framed by open timber bi-fold doors, boat-prow-shaped pendant lights with hand-tied rope detailing hang above a terrazzo bar carved with an abstract green fish motif. A guest perches on a dark cylindrical stool as a bartender prepares a drink, weathered ceramic urns and pool tiles visible beyond.

Photography by Pichan Sujaritsatit.

A drum-shaped DJ counter, its base laced in cream rope, anchors an open-sided lounge beneath a slatted timber ceiling. Orange and teal upholstered sofas piled with patterned cushions surround a low wooden table, ceiling fans stirring the air as garden greenery presses in from beyond the folding doors.

Photography by Pichan Sujaritsatit.

Rattan-woven dining chairs surround chunky timber tables set for service, their pale wicker patterning echoed in a textured woven wall screen beyond. A patchwork mosaic floor in green and ochre tiles anchors the room, as a server passes through open doors leading to a planted courtyard.

Photography by Pichan Sujaritsatit.

Furniture has been designed with the same sculptural sensibility. Chunky timber tables, interlocking joinery, woven chairs and terrazzo bases create a vocabulary of solid yet organic forms, while ceramic figures and anthropomorphic planters allude to the ancestral wooden pillars carved by sea nomads for worship ceremonies. The earthy palette of honeyed wood, sandy terrazzo and terracotta is enlivened by shades of forest green, olive and aquamarine, with patterned textiles and tropical planting extending the lushness of the surrounding landscape indoors.

Deeply grooved timber panelling wraps a dining corner in rhythmic, hand-carved texture, enclosing an oval table with a speckled rose-terracotta plaster base. Woven leather benches and upholstered wooden chairs surround it, a bowl of bananas and a sculptural stone vessel set atop the burl-patterned tabletop.

Photography by Pichan Sujaritsatit.

A sculptural staircase shifts materials mid-flight, pale terrazzo treads giving way to dark timber steps beneath a slim black handrail. A ceramic figurine perches on a raw-plaster plinth, set against a patchwork tiled wall and green mosaic flooring below.

Photography by Pichan Sujaritsatit.

Beneath a vaulted timber ceiling strung with spherical rattan pendants, sculptural dark-wood pedestal tables display stacked ceramic fish and figurative vessels. A striped green mosaic wall, terrazzo flooring patterned with wave-like swirls, and rattan seating in teal palm-print cushions set a tactile, sea-inflected tone.

Photography by Pichan Sujaritsatit.

Globe pendant lights punctuate a vaulted timber-trussed ceiling above a lounge dressed in rattan seating and teal-and-gold palm-print cushions. Totemic stacked ceramic sculptures rise from a dark pedestal table, with the sea visible through glazed doors beyond a woven-leather dining set.

Photography by Pichan Sujaritsatit.

More than a picturesque escape, Laku Beach Club is a place where Riviera-inflected leisure meets Andaman coastal memory, and where design becomes a vessel for both relaxation and remembrance.

A sage-green sectional sofa, layered with jewel-toned palm-print and cobalt cushions, anchors an upper-floor lounge beneath a folk-patterned textile hanging. Rattan and orange-leather armchairs, low wooden tables and a terrazzo floor rippling with fishbone motifs complete the scene, palms visible through a timber lattice screen.

Photography by Pichan Sujaritsatit.

Laku Beach Club on Coconut Island by Studio Locomotive, seen across the swimming pool, with its two-storey timber structure framed by tropical planting and palms. The gently curved roof, open façades, terracotta tones and aquamarine water create a relaxed composition where local vernacular cues meet Riviera-inflected leisure.

Photography by Pichan Sujaritsatit.