SPACE December 2024 (No. 685)
Super-Normal: The Universal and the Particular
On a low hill in the countryside, there sits a small white mass that appears to have been meticulously carved with a knife. The overall outline of the building is a symmetrical triangle, but its hypotenuse cascades in a stepped manner, and a cylindrical wooden mass is embedded into the pilotis space at the first-floor entrance, adding a sense of sculptural richness. This building was designed first, with the client’s requirements and budget foremost in mind, before a specific site was chosen. This was possible because the site conditions in Yangpyeong, where the building is located, are generally similar to those in the more urban areas, as the market offers square and rectangular plots divided into given areas, and the architectural typologies that distinguish the city centre from the countryside are ambiguous in Korea.
보통집(2021)
Mega Floor: Plan as a Generator
From a distance, the Mega Floor (2024) appears as a singular cubic mass, but, upon closer inspection, it reveals itself as a complex geometric creation composed of architectural elements such as columns, beams, and floor slabs, all arranged according to a consistent compositional principle. The vertical and horizontal lines on the façade divide the mass into planes, while the variations in height between elements and the play of light and shadow imbue the surface with depth, transforming solidity into void. In Towards a New Architecture (1923), Le Corbusier identified the three elements of architecture as volume, surface, and plan, and argued that when a simple geometric form is given surface depth, its sculptural solidity diminishes, leading to a paradoxical situation where the surface takes precedence over the volume. For Le Corbusier, architecture was not about space but about the majestic interplay of forms under light. However, his early sculptural language of smooth surfaces evolved into the direction of giving depth to surfaces through features like brise-soleil and decorative elements, and his early book, Towards a New Architecture, a compilation of ess...
