Saekdong House

Seoul, South Korea

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Saekdong House

Seoul, South Korea

Firm

a.co.lab

Type

Residential › Private House

STATUS

Built

YEAR

2026

SIZE

1000 sqft - 3000 sqft

BUDGET

$100K - 500K

Saekdong House is a renovation and extension project of an old residence built in 1968, situated in Yeonhui-dong, Seoul, South Korea. The house is revealed only after traversing a long, narrow alleyway with its entry facing the street. Originally a single-story structure, its ground floor and ceiling heights were uniquely elevated above those of typical homes—a deliberate design choice to secure natural light and views within the unfavorable conditions of a landlocked site surrounded by adjacent blocks. Beneath the building lay a air-raid shelter, a historic feature commonly found in older residences of Yeonhui-dong built in preparation for wartime emergencies with North Korea.

We chose to view the site's inherent flaws as its defining uniqueness. A house embedded deep within the block can become a self-contained sanctuary, while the long, narrow entry path serves as a transitional sequence leading from the busy city into the home. By clearing out the original living room, we created a central courtyard to bring in light and ventilation. The building coverage ratio reclaimed from emptying the living room was then used to construct an annex in the southern yard, which had previously been shaded by neighboring buildings. The existing structure was reinforced with timber framework, complemented by a low-ceilinged corridor inside and an jade-green FRP eave outside to block rain. The top-heavy original roof was replaced with a light, modest gable roof. Meanwhile, the air-raid shelter's floor level was lowered to gain adequate ceiling height, with a sunken pathway introduced between the courtyard and the annex to welcome both daylight and circulation.

"Saekdong" refers to the traditional Korean technique of joining fabric patches of different colors to create a single garment. Just as contrasting fragments weave together into a unified textile, various architectural elements in Saekdong House establish relationships to form a singular landscape. Furniture and architecture, structure and finish, interior and exterior, room and room, main house and annex, as well as nature and artifact—each remains independent, yet comfortably coexists.

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Saekdong House

Seoul, South Korea

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Saekdong House

Seoul, South Korea

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Saekdong House

Seoul, South Korea

Other Projects by a.co.lab

Be-Fore

Painter N's House

Saekdong House

Seoul, South Korea

Product Spec Sheet

Collaborating Firms

Team

Articles