Firm： Studio Gaon

Type： Commercial › Office Cultural › Gallery Educational › Library Residential › Private House

YEAR： 2014

SIZE： 1000 sqft - 3000 sqft

Photos： Joo Won Moon (1)

The owners of this house asked us to name the house the “House of Respect and Happiness.” The clients wanted to make their house a space in which to interact, exchange, and educate. Thus, in this case, the clients brought the concept for the project for us to resolve.

The land is in Hanghyun-ri, Gapyeong, Gyungki-do. Gapyeong is a street corner of Daeseong-ri or Gangchon, which is famous for picnics. Once you edge your way through Hyun-ri, there is land which looks like it is in a hollow sack. This land is the site of the project, etched into the mountainside. It is exceedingly hot and rainy in the middle of summer, the land is damp with rain, and on the north side there are extraordinary views of the picturesque mountain landscape. Furthermore, since the land is high on the end of the road, it is also a quiet and peaceful site.

This project has two different programs in one house where private space and public space coexists. Therefore, we cut the building into two parts. The clients wanted part of the house to be small and cozy and the other part, consisting of the library, to be spacious with high ceilings in which to work, educate, and discuss.

Thus, the resulting design created a separation of function that leans on each other, such as the concepts of sun and moon, yin and yang, softness and stiffness, cold and warm.

Securing various heights and various quantities of space is the key to crafting an atmosphere of respect and happiness. With this in mind, we kept the floor plan of the house open in order to accommodate the fundamental desire of human beings for space, as well as the respectful plural existences of two people.

To realize this complex concept architecturally, we put two buildings without hierarchy in a slightly different direction to create a gap between them, and set the entrance for each of them in the yard in between. Since the library building had to be used as a mezzanine, it is higher than the house building. Walking up the outside stairs from the library building one meets the guest room, and there is a rooftop space used to watch movies in the open air or hold meetings.

Photo: Yong Kwan Kim