Soha House

Seoul, South Korea

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Other Projects by Wonder Architects

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Soha House

Seoul, South Korea

Firm

Wonder Architects

Type

Residential › Private House

STATUS

Built

YEAR

2019

SIZE

1000 sqft - 3000 sqft

BUDGET

$100K - 500K

Through this small house project, we try to uncover and express architectural meanings which are immanent in the architecture itself. The architectural meanings made from in the sense of following three are mainly considered.

1. reinterpretation of spatial forms(formats) in general Korean residential culture
2. architectural elements and forms
3. heterogeneity of materials under coherence

Although these 3 themes are not new to any architect, the intention each architect conceives will make the result totally different. From the first inception, this small house is conceived as a house which has its own meaning in itself through its own architectural form.

1. (re)interpretation of spatial forms(formats) in general Korean residential culture

There is some kind of standardized formality of space in the Korean residential culture which has been formulated during and after the mass construction of apartment housing. The mass construction era is still ongoing and the mass produced apartments are the major residential house type in Korea till now. As the influence of that is so great, even many single family houses have the space forms not unlike that of the apartment houses.

Especially the entrance halls of houses are almost in same form both in architect-designed single family houses and the mass produced apartment houses. Entrance hall of Korean contemporary house is a space where spatial transition is occurred between in and out, and where people take off or put on the shoes which is found only in few cultures. The role of entrance hall is limited only to mere spatial transition of people which means it is isolated with the other parts of the house, and occupies very small parts and has almost same architectural form in general. But the implied significance of that space is great and not limited to the form of present. Nevertheless, the significance of that space is not yet well considered by architects and the space has been designed with almost no consideration that it can have a critical role in the space of the whole house.

This small house project begins to transform the very common space of Korean houses (entrance hall) into the very unfamiliar and totally new form.

The long, slender shape of the space with top lights is not familiar one as an entrance hall. The space is parallel to the front road and has 3 different corridors to the other parts of the house : a living room, a kitchen dining room, and upper floor. It makes the entrance hall always connected to the other spaces and avoided the isolation from the other parts. Entrance hall also has a wash room and a laundry space inside which makes it always usable and approachable in everyday life not as merely transition space. Now the entrance hall has totally different status in this house not only in the sense of architectural form also in the sense of everyday life.

2. architectural elements and forms

In architecture the word ‘form’ is easily misunderstood with the word ‘shape’ or ‘figure’. The form of architecture is about the use of architectural elements. The (re)interpretation of architectural elements would lead to new architectural forms. The form is not about the shape or figure of whole building but about the relationships of each parts of the building.

This house has no special shape in terms of familiarity which means it has vertical walls with familiar brick cladding not non-linear or leaning walls, gabled roof not speared one, and normal rectangular windows not triangular or pentagonal ones. But in the sense of architectural forms, some attentions would be needed to configure. By putting architectural elements in different context, the ordinary architectural elements would have different significance in the sense of form.

The eaves on both side of house (front north one and garden faced south one) are same in shape and size for each. Only by putting different element to each, they become totally different forms. The eaves on the front north façade are supported only one column which has actually no structural role. The only column gives the sense of the stability to the long, floating eaves which are flying over a long, linear window. The combination makes a kind of inversion in the sense of weight of each parts of structure. The sensation of weight by eaves is reduced to be floating in the air, and the additional non-load-bearing column seems like to take a load-bearing role. A contradiction in the structural sense occurs.

The other one on south facade is supported 8 columns which consist of 3 load-bearing ones, 5 non-load-bearing ones repeatedly. The 8 wall-shaped columns reduce the sense of opening in the south façade and take a role of sun shades. In a structural sense, the combination array of load-bearing and none load-bearing columns reveals the structural ideas as it is and gives the house look of structural authenticity.

With same architectural elements of each façade, the different, even contrary to each other, results are made. All elements are not new at all. The form of each is also not new either. But the relationships of each element could make the result new, at least different.

3. heterogeneity of materials under coherence

The outside wall is clad with concrete-bricks and the eaves and columns are all in exposed concrete. The concrete-brick and exposed concrete both have a common origin – simply concrete. The use of the same originated materials gives the look of oneness in appearance of the house. And the difference between these two materials gives the sensational pleasure of materiality of heterogeneity.

Inside of house, exposed concrete is also applied to walls and two types of terrazzo are also applied to floors and walls. The terrazzo also has almost same origin with concrete and shares similarities and differences to it. The interior space of house with wood flooring and white paint gains its coherence with the outside space in terms of materials through the use of the concrete and the terrazzo on its walls and floors. To make the sense of heterogeneity of material under coherent materiality is an important task to be achieved as an architect through this house project.

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Soha House

Seoul, South Korea

Other Projects by Wonder Architects

UNREALIZED ALTERNATIVE HOUSE DESIGN FOR TWO FAMILIES

HYU COLLEGE OF BUSINESS AND ECONOMICS

Yeobaek Co-housing

Hanyang University Fabrication Lab with rhythmic metal boxes

Soha House

Seoul, South Korea

Product Spec Sheet

Collaborating Firms

Team