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Up to 60 per cent of its yearly revenue of Bt80 million to Bt90 million comes from overseas operations, chairman and principal executive Sunantapat Chalermpanth said yesterday.

The company has participated in nearly 100 projects in countries such as China, Bhutan, Iraq and the Maldives.

Nearly 90 per cent of its total projects, or 40 projects a year on average, will involve the design of hospitality facilities, including hotels and resorts, golf clubs, shopping centres and serviced apartments. The rest are residential projects.

The company expects to generate revenue of Bt80 million to Bt90 million this year from 40 projects.

Sunantapat said architects from Thailand had long experience and also understood the customer's culture, so they can succeed in doing business overseas - especially in Asia.

"When we expand overseas, we need local partners to help us understand the country's culture and atmosphere. That will facilitate our work in giving special ideas for buildings," he said.

China is a new country that needs more design and also will be a potential market for architects from Thailand and other countries in this region, such as Singapore and Hong Kong.

However, Thai architects have more experience in designing hospitality structures than those from Singapore or Hong Kong, who specialise in high-rise buildings rather than hospitality establishments.

"That's why we have hospitality customers rather than condominium projects in both the domestic and overseas markets," he said.

Once the road from Chiang Rai passes through Laos, Burma to China, it will also become a new route for investors to build hotels and resorts, he added.

The design trend throughout Asia now is incorporating energy-saving technology.

"Most customers have a strong interest in building energy-saving premises in response to global warming. This requires architects to pay more attention to this," he said.