Office: aoa architects | ArchDaily

Hoji Gangneung Houses / aoa architects

Hana Abdel — Fri, 05 Jan 2024 10:00:00 +0000

A ‘pension’ is no longer an alternative to a hotel, with its unreasonably high-priced bills. Pool villas line the seafront, and healing vacation stays deep in the forest are fully booked during the peak season. So, not everyone will be able to holiday unless they are nimble. It is easy to see that the idea of the ‘pension’, which was carved out by the hands of designers, and the luxury accommodation aspiring to be known as ‘stays’ is rising in appreciation, but not through their appearances on Instagram but through word of mouth. From the consumer’s point of view, it may be fun to look here and there, but for architects who are the creators of such spaces, the phenomenon of vacation architecture appears to them as a confection of glass, excessive interior design, and characterized by kitsch catchphrases, such as ‘We are equipped with Swedish body cleanser.’ The owner of HOJI felt the same weariness when met with these aspects, as communicated when visiting our office.

Seogyo Geunsaeng Residential Building / aoa architects

Andreas Luco — Tue, 22 Mar 2022 18:00:00 +0000

“l'existence précède l'essence” It has been a long time since colorless and odorless minimalism has become power in Korean architecture or design. I am amazed at the finish and the way it is made, but if I look at it, there is something uncomfortable about it, probably because of the vomiting caused by the doctrinal attitude behind it, that there is a more correct metaphysical idea. Unless we acknowledge our barren lives and the reality of the city I am stepping on as it is and present our possibilities in it, our architecture will not only be alienated from the public, but also uniqueness from a global perspective.

Cascade House / aoa architects

Paula Pintos — Thu, 02 Jan 2020 06:00:00 +0000

It is no exaggeration to say that most multi-family houses in the neighborhoods are the results of the auto-generative form by building regulations such as the solar setback requirements and by the economic inevitability to accommodate as many units as possible on relatively small land. Thus the form is difficult to understand, the structure is dislocated and space becomes stifling. The result is left to the tenants, and it is still difficult to rent a decent house where a table can find its right place.

Malefemale House / aoa architects

Andreas Luco — Wed, 01 Jan 2020 06:00:00 +0000

As the traditional role between men and women become blurred in modern society, the privacy at home and the basic nature of spaces in the house is being changed. Even the privacy among family members that had been overlooked in the past patriarchal era with a large family is now the most basic thing to insure, especially among married couples. The economic independence of women through increased participation in society plays a role in this. As a result, the kitchen has turned into a café-like space with a large table out of its traditional function of producing the food. It is also a wine bar for the soon-to-be married couple to stop by after work.

Villa Jeju / aoa architects

Daniel Tapia — Mon, 01 Oct 2018 19:00:00 +0000

The client requested Villa Jeju to be a variation of Villa Mangwon, which is the reason for similar namesake. It was necessary to create a more advanced and evolved species in response to the geographical character of Jeju Island while maintaining the fundamental form of stacking. Is there any place in Korea that has more eccentric character than Jeju Island? Could a white building that is likely to be in the Mediterranean location acquire the unique characteristics of Jeju Island just because it features walls made of indigenous basalt stones of Jeju Island? The project began with these simple but practical questions. There are a number of elements that are uniquely associated with Jeju Island and regarded as the identity of the island: Dol hareubang (large rock statue carved from porous basalt), Jeju tangerine, Haenyeo (female divers) and others.

Chubby Cat House / aoa architects

Cristobal Rojas — Fri, 17 Nov 2017 20:00:00 +0000

Since the site was located at the end of a dead-end street and surrounded all over by buildings, it needed something that allows the building to be recognized at least from the main road. As shown in a typical Seoul neighborhood, Seongsan-dong is also full of irregular buildings by unknown developers and local builders, so if one elevation of the building becomes one large flat surface, it could not only highlight the presence of the building giving it a unique impression, but also be helpful to promote sale of units. Since the land owner was also a typical local developer, he undoubtedly demanded a unit-configuration that would maximize profits for the given conditions. Attempt to squeeze in a maximum number of units given the floor area ratio resulted in somewhat uneven floor plans, and the building section also had to be in accordance with the lines of the setback regulation of solar access right. This results in the typical consequence of the ‘economic necessity’ to accommodate as many units as possible in a relatively small plot and the complicated “auto-generative mechanism” created by the setback lines of building regulation which are inherent in many medium-size residential buildings in Seoul.

ㄷ House (digeut-jip) / aoa architects

Sabrina Leiva — Mon, 27 Mar 2017 22:00:00 +0000

It is a very romantic imagination to build a house in the middle of a green rice field, but the reality was not so easy to get sentimental. The house could not be free from the gaze of others because the intercity bus terminal was in the vicinity. Therefore, the most important thing for the family was a protected exterior space where they can enjoy outdoor activities of the rural life with their two young children. The house had to be one and at the same time two because they are supposed to live with grandparents. And also another desire, that the house should look bigger than the actual one, reminded us a single-story house with the Korean letter 'ㄷ' shaped floor plan, where the courtyard in the middle seemed to be part of the inner space.

Villa Mangwon / aoa architects

Florencia Mena — Wed, 17 Aug 2016 19:00:00 +0000

Villa mangwon is five stories building with gabled roof. The shape of the site is nearly rectangular and it has distant views on the upper floors. On the ground floor there are parking areas and a small retail shop with pilotis. The upper floors consist of small offices on the 2nd floor, four linear studio apartments on the 3rd and 4th. The studio apartment for rent is entirely open to the south and north, where it has a small balcony on the south and an open street view on the north. The top floor is the land owner’s family house with an attic and a small roof terrace.