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Architects: Becban architecture
- Area: 165 m²
- Year: 2023
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Photographs:Kiwoong Hong
Text description provided by the architects. A rural house built in 1965 on Jeju Island. The owner, who has long worked with craft using waste materials collected from the sea, proposed not to demolish the old house but to reuse it. The project began by accepting this idea — to regard the old house as a resource for creating new space.
The design strategy was to retain the existing building and cover it with a new structure, integrating the old and the extension under a single roof. This approach reduced construction area, improved structural efficiency, and enhanced spatial continuity. The rhythm of columns, the weight of stone walls, and the placement of windows — these elements of the existing building's spatial order became key references in shaping the new plan.
A new room was added to the courtyard adjacent to the former bedrooms, while bathrooms, a dressing room, and a laundry room were placed along the former kitchen and utility area, organizing the flow of daily life. The functional spaces were planned as a single-story box placed in front of the existing house, and the space between them inherited the openness and flexibility of the original yard to become a new living room. The former living room was converted into a kitchen and dining area, forming an LDK (Living-Dining-Kitchen) that connects inside and outside, old and new.
As the existing building was located on the northern side of the site, the extension naturally proceeded southward. To address the daylighting problem caused by the deepened floor plan, the gable roofs were intentionally offset, allowing light to filter deep into the interior through the gap.
To cover the combined 11-meter span of the existing building and the 4.5-meter extension with a lightweight timber roof, two main beams were installed along with roof joists. The existing timber frame was reinforced to support the northern beam, and a partial moment frame was applied in the extension to support the southern beam, which also forms the clerestory window. For economic efficiency and flexibility, not only load-bearing walls but also the moment frame were constructed using standard timber and plywood assembled on site.
On the east side, office and guest spaces were added, with an entrance placed between them to separate different programs. This entrance extends inward like an alley, naturally connecting the existing and new spaces, and creating a circulation loop throughout the house. Entering inside, the old stone walls, chimney, and eaves — once exterior elements — remain intact. These fragments of the past add not only physical traces but also a certain thickness of time and space within the new structure.
This house is an architectural proposal that takes the memory and atmosphere of a traditional Jeju house as a resource to build a new living environment. By covering the old structure with the new, it layers the past and present, inside and outside, old and new — becoming a house for tomorrow built upon those overlaps.
