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Architects: Moreless Architects
- Area: 84 m²
- Year: 2018
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Photographs:Lee Tecsu
“Hallasan Mountain, Sanbangsan Mountain, low hills, and Oreum seat themselves softly on a spacious green carpet… When I see the quiet, low, and long Cheongsu-ri gotjawal, which sometimes seems to be far away and sometimes seems to be near, my spirit seems to be purified in spite of myself. I’m sitting beside a solid and small square concrete box.” In client text. I wanted a house, but not a contemporary common residence. I desired that a new rest at a residence as a space containing ideas as well as physical spaces would be presented. This project represents an inquiry into rest in contemporary residential spaces, and the beginning of spaces in which the mind and heart as well as the body can get a rest.
Site. The site overlooks gotjawal down the hill of Cheongsu-ri, Jeju. Sambangsan Mountain is seen beyond it, and Hallasan Mountain and Oreum are found when turning your head. This land, on which the architecture was built, is rich enough with its environment alone. Rest in the new space begins first at this beautiful site. The architecture had to be structured simply only with the environment of the site. Jeju is a beautiful island still left to us, and an island of strong nature. While looking around Jeju, it was found that any form is inferior to nature, and that any material is weak in front of nature. Architecture here should be humble.
Simple plain rest. Simple and plain rest that dreams of a small cottage in the flowery countryside. Two bedrooms and a living room and kitchen within a small area were designed for simple daily life, and only their minimum functions were maintained. The structure and form of its space intend to compose the space based on simple modules and to find comfort from equilibrium in asymmetry. The upper beam exposed to the outside after removing the ceiling of the inner space becomes part of the form together with the protruded walls. The space evolves based on the relationships between the (emptied) exterior spaces and the (filled) interior spaces. Starting from the (emptied) courtyard, the space extends to (filled) personal spaces, and meets with (emptied) personal exterior spaces through each of the (filled) personal spaces. Each personal space faces the symbolic elements (Sanbangsan, Hallasan, gotjawal, stone walls) of Jeju. The independent personal exterior spaces are spaces of rest for thinking and reciting.
Red Courtyard and Toenmaru. The (emptied) courtyard is the beginning of all spaces, and is a personal exterior space excluding the surrounding environment. If you pass the hallway along a stretch of concrete wall, you will enter the red (scoria) courtyard. The architecture viewed from the outside is a rough greyish concrete block, and was intended not to attract eyes, but to become the background of surrounding nature. Just the elements of nature become clearer, and light and shadow come out. This is the aforementioned architectural attitude at this site.
However, as soon as you step into the courtyard, the red (scoria) courtyard becomes the beginning of residential spaces and represents the symbol of dynamic living space. The emptied space embraces only the red floor and the blue sky, and accommodates various programs, with being surrounded by toenmaru made of concrete, and will become the space of personal thinking in daily life. The toenmaru made of concrete is a place to sit on conveniently at any time, is the boundary between the inside and the outside, and is a transitional space that requires some difficulty to get on in order to enter the inside. It is hoped that it will perform a new function appropriate for contemporary life just as it used to be an element of architecture. The courtyard of this concrete toenmaru, which is comfortable and also uncomfortable, will turn into romantic rest.
Rough wall and Polished floor - The walls stretching out to the outside flow into their own respective independent spaces. Personal (filled) interior spaces and (emptied) exterior spaces are formed by the walls. Light flowing the exterior spaces along the extending walls enters up to the inside walls. In daily life, the inside walls will show various textures, together with light, through the rough surfaces of cement plastering finish. The red scoria, a volcanic rock, in Jeju is broken into small pieces, fills the yard together with rubble, and becomes part of toenmaru and inside floor. It is placed, together with concrete, into the floor, which is ground to reveal the red cross-section of scoria.
Such a floor was designed to have the placeness of Jeju and the material, though not comfort provided by the wooden floor or the deco tile, felt somewhere in the space. On this wise, the architecture was composed of minimum materials and was finished so that every property might be revealed as far as possible. It was hoped that materials would be aged naturally within the environment of Jeju with the very properties of the materials, whether good or bad. It is hoped that the architecture will be placidly assimilated into nature at this location over a long time, and that daily life will expand into connected small exterior spaces within simple space. In addition, It is hoped that I will go out to my own red courtyard at any time and enjoy the seasons, the sky, stars, and Jeju.
