SPACE-Between Destiny and Skepticism: Painter N’s House

SPACE October 2024 (No. 683)

©Choi Yongjoon

Painter N’s House (2024) in Yeonhui-dong is the remodeling of an old residence and studio that the client couple who are painters lived in for ten years. The project was an attempt to find a new form for their existing way of living. The first and second floors are accessed by the existing alleyway staircase as the original way instead of adding an indoor staircase, and the small but familiar scenery such as the existing cabinet inlaid with mother-of-pearl in the master bedroom and the IKEA ceiling manual lightings have been retained. The lush exterior insulation was stripped away to reveal the original decoration bricks, and we added similar bricks found from a redevelopment site over the mountain. Previous occupants have changed the building structure over the years. It was important to find a formal, three-dimensional grid within the existing house’s atypical floors and walls to complement the performance of the existing structure. Columns within the physical contact are reinforced with wood, beams by metal, and the extruded volume from inside the existing building finish rises to the level of the railing next door. The gutters have been left exposed to unite the ends of the roof, and downspouts have been placed on the structural axis or made as outdoor structural reinforcement. The hope was that furniture elements and minor devices would be part of the structure, organised to function as part of the whole system.

Process diagram

Sectional axonometric

You can see more information on the SPACE No. October (2024).

Architect

Chung Isak (Dongyang University) + a.co.lab archi

Design team

Cho Youhwan, Bae Jangwoo, You Heejeong

Location

Yeonhui-dong, Seodaemun-gu, Seoul, Korea

Programme

single house

Site area

109㎡

Building area

59.87㎡

Gross floor area

114.62㎡

Building scope

B1, 2F

Height

7.62m

Building to land ratio

54.93%

Structure

wooden structure

Exterior finishing

brick, wood, steel sheet

Interior finishing

miicrete, concrete policing, exposed wooden struct

Construction

direct undertaking work

Design period

Apr. 2022 – Oct. 2023

Construction period

Nov. 2023 – May 2024

Chung Isak

Chung Isak opened a.co.lab architects in 2013 and is a professor at Dongyang University. He has worked on a wide range of architectural projects and has participated in both architecture and contemporary art exhibitions as an artist and curator. He participated in the 2016 Venice Biennale (as curator and artist in the Korean Pavilion), 2016 Beijing Design Week (as curator of Korean Pavilion), ‘CAMP 2020’ (as art director), as well as in public art projects such as Seoul is a Museum and Hangang Art Park. His work has been exhibited at Seoul Museum of Art, Arko Art Center, and Busan Museum of Art. He is also the co-author of the book, The Seoul, City Microhistory (2016).