Architect’s Firm: D.LIM architects (Yeonghwan Lim+Sunhyun Kim)
Contact e-mail: dlimpjw@gmail.com
Design Team: Youngcheon Kim, Jisun Heo, Soochan Lee
Location: Yeongdeok-dong, Giheung-gu, Yongin-si, Hyeonggi-do, Korea
Programme: Single-family house
Site area: 736.00㎡
Building area: 367.88㎡
Gross floor area: 659.72㎡
Building scope: 3F
Building to land ratio: 49.98%
Floor area ratio: 89.64%
Structure: R.C. structure, Wooden structure
Parking Lot: 5
Height: 12.29m
Exterior finishing: Concrete brick, lithin coat, Phosphate panel, Steel plate, 47mm Low-E glass
Structural engineering: Mosan
Mechanical engineering: Jusung Engineering Co.
Electrical engineering: Woolim Electronical Engineering & Consulting
Construction: Ean R&C
Design period: 2017.04-2017.09
Photograph by: Youngchae Park

This is a full view of the house exterior showcasing the warm glow of the windows and balconies.

This is a close at the main entrance of the house featuring the wide driveway and garage doors with warm lighting.

The warm lighting of the windows and doors from the interiors match well with the gray tone of the exterior walls.

This is a close look at the two tones of the exterior walls with the upper wall having a lighter tone than the lower level exterior walls.

This is a look at the back of the house with a large covered area for a patio.

This closer look at the exterior walls of the upper levels showcases the textures and patterns of the walls.

This is a close look at the exterior of the house showcasing the different tones and textures as well as the glass walls of the upper level.

This corner of the house has a small balcony that looks over a lush landscaping.

This is a side of the house with covered walkways, grass lawn and glass walls.

This is a nighttime view of the glass walls of the house that give glimpses of the interiors.

This is a nighttime view of the house walkways and glass walls giving the interior a seamless transition.

This is a close look at the corner of the glass wall in contrast with the grass lawn just outside.

This is a closer look at the covered and shaded walkway with a set of slat wooden panels on the ceiling for a shaded effect that leads to the other glassed section of the house.

This is an interior view of the house with glass walls and a small garden right outside.

This is a view of the grass lawn and walkway of the back of the house from the vantage of the glass wall.

The glass walls can be retracted that can open the interiors to the grass lawn of the backyard.

This is a look at the great room that houses the living room and the dining room at the far end under a tall shed ceiling with wooden beams.

This is a view of the interiors just inside the glass walls with wooden structures built into the walls opposite the glass walls.

This is a look at the kitchen and dining area of the house with a large L-shaped kitchen island that matches with the long wooden dining table.

This view of the house showcases the dining table, glass-enclosed staircase and the large wooden beamed ceiling above.

The dark wooden dining set that matches with the hardwood flooring is topped with a couple of hanging modern lighting.

This is a closer look at the edge of the large kitchen island as well as the glass walls of the staircase with wooden steps and handles.

This closer look at the low glass walls of the staircase also gives a view of the dark sectional sofa of the living room that has an abundance of natural lighting.

This is a part of the house interior that transitions the outdoor flooring with the hardwood flooring of the interiors with built-in cabinetry on the walls.

This is the door that leads to the back outdoor areas of the house as well as the parking area.

This view of the interior features the wooden beamed ceiling with modern lighting over the hardwood flooring.

This is a long hallway behind with bright beige walls and doors on the side that are complemented by the wooden beamed ceiling and hardwood flooring.

This simple and bright bed has a modern floating wooden platform bed that pairs well with the hardwood flooring. These are then complemented by the large glass wall and door that brings in natural lighting.

This is the hallway that leads to the bathroom with a view of the modern vanity on the far end topped with a large mirror.

This is a closer look at the bathroom with a large modern vanity and a bathtub area on the far side bathed with sunlight from the skylight.

This is a simple and bright toilet area with a modern toilet that blends well with the modern white walls.

3+3+3

This house is a three-story house with three gardens, designed as a dwelling for three generations. The site runs along with the range of a small, densely wooded hill. This small hill became the most crucial element when determining the layout of the house. The house was aligned with the shape of the site and placed parallel to the axis toward the hill, in order to draw the hill’s natural flow into the house.

Moreover, the end of the sightline, which binds the long-lined spaces together, was always directed toward the hill. Spaces that are divided into few parts here overlap, going beyond the simple boundary between the interior and exterior, but they never block the view of each other.

The definition of the three gardens in this house is quite flexible: including a yard with granite stone inside the main gate, a soil-cement yard in front of the guest room, and a green yard in front of the dining room, as well as a dirt yard for children, a grass yard for adults, and a vegetable garden for the lady of the house. Sometimes they are simply defined as yards on the first, second, and third floors. Based on their needs, they become yards, gardens, passageways.

Infra-position

The site was elongated east and west, at the edge of the small hill, through unusual shape and a fairly steep slope. The widest space was positioned on the sunny side, at the same eye-level to the natural landscape, and neutral rooms – such as a living room, dining room, grandmother’s room, study room, and workroom – were introduced.

By virtue of the site’s shape, elongated along easterly and westerly directions, every room in the house receives a warm light from the south. The slope that begins at the foot of the hill creates two large steps in the site’s longitudinal direction, allowing each household to be distinguished vertically.

A parking lot, storage, and laundry room were placed deeply on the sloped side, by practicing infraposing strategy. It is not architecture superimposed into the ground, but an architecture infrasposed beneath the ground. Yet, the land has not been dug down.

By being properly hidden and then revealed, the potential forceful tendency of architecture becomes somewhat softened. Just as a ship needs to be partly submerged in order to be balanced on the water, architecture also needs to retain a relationship to the ground to a certain extent in order to maintain harmony.

Scale of Depth

When one enters the main gate on the first floor, one will first encounter the covered yard in between. Here, where one experiences the image of the house for the first time, it is dusky. This is because there is a wall standing at the front, so space is only lit up by the slanted sunlight coming in from the side.

The visitor’s gaze naturally looks for the entrance and sees the two front doors on both sides. The one on the right side is a private entrance used by the second generation couple. It is connected to the parking lot, leading to the study room and the workroom on the second floor, then to the bedroom space on the third floor.

The other door on the left side is the main entrance to this house, and it leads to the guest room and the stairs to the second floor. The guest room is mainly used by the families of the younger generation who moved out of the home after marriage, and small spaces designed for children have been concealed inside. All the rooms are connected to the south yard through the narrow wooden porch (toenmaru), and children can use the yard and this room as their play areas.

The first floor is divided into two by the yard, but the second floor forms a wide platform, tying the entire house together into its circulation. When ascended to the second floor via the stair of the main entrance, there are two living rooms on either side. One is where grandmother spends her entire day, and the other is a shared living room for the extended family.

Originally planned as a central space, the shared living room adjacent to the dining room was positioned at the center of the building, but more than that, it was intended for use as a measure of the depth of the longest and the largest space of this house. In the study located in the far west of the house, the small forest on the hill can be enjoyed as a garden, dividing the yard into two and adding an additional purpose.

When one looks at the other end of the house, after emerging from the grandmother’s room located on the easternmost side, the gaze penetrates the two living rooms beyond the yard and the study room, leading to the forest on the western hill. It is a sightline imaged from the very beginning of the design phase, where the most impressive and ample view coupled with this unique spatial experience can take place.

It is connected as if it was a single space, but the boundary between the inside and the outside is blurred by the penetration of the outdoor space. It is the largest and the longest space in this house, which can be experienced daily without wearing shoes.

Not fancy, nor simple

The building is mostly finished with lithin coat on the stone and long, light grey concrete bricks. Phosphate panels in-between connect and separate stones and bricks, filling the empty space of the façade. The longwall – which could easily be seen as a barrier when viewed from the road – has been segmented into similar colored materials of different textures, blurring the sense of scale. The neighbors’ gaze is not fixed on the building.

On the inside, the wooden structure – which is placed on top of the reinforced concrete structure – is directly exposed to the ceiling, as revealed through the window. As a result, the building is a light gray tone overall, but it does not seem too dark or too bright due to the addition of warm wooden materials and dimmed lighting. The house is not fancy nor simple, just as the client desired.