SPACE April 2025 (No. 689)
Moving Forward by Means of Difference and Repetition
Interview Jeong Jaeheon professor, Kyung Hee University × Park Jiyoun
A Language of Inside and Outside
Park Jiyoun (Park): You’ve said that when you design – and not just the residential projects you’ve worked on, but also offices and hotels – that it’s like ‘designing houses with different characteristics’. You’ve also emphasised that other uses of buildings besides houses are spaces for longer stays as well, and you’ve tried to create an architecture that allows for freer and different kinds of movement. You’ve also mentioned that the three café projects presented here are ‘like a single village’. Could you elaborate on the implications of this?
Jeong Jaeheon (Jeong): A typical café is self-contained, like a single objet. This type of architecture emphasises form, but I placed greater emphasis on a sense of comfort. A village is distinguished from a type of complex where you get to move around according to pre-planned areas. It is spontaneous and a collection of parts. The entrance is not explicit, the boundaries are ambiguous, and the distinction between the centre and periphery is blurred. Where I stand is the very centre, and positions are established on the basis of relationships. These spatial characteristics of such a village are particularly evident in Mineral House (2024). Mineral House is open to the riverside without a boundary. The outdoor spaces are divided and connected into different areas by buildings, walls and fences that are appropriately adjusted according to the weaving pattern of the surrounding fields and paddies. Like a small village, the communities are arranged around the water space. The spaces in between are interconnected, with no distinction between inside and outside, interior and exterior, centre and periphery, allowing people to wander freely through them. There are no exhibits on display, but there are series of paths that people can walk along and enjoy as if they were in an art museum, and there are hidden places wher...
