‘The moment you step through the door, you’re met with a story—crafted by the atmosphere and space left behind by a host with an exceptional eye for detail.’
Z_Lab is committed to designing narratives where a work of architecture is completed through experience – situated between the everyday and the extraordinary – primarily through the medium of stays. Over the past ten years, their work has played a significant role in establishing the stay as an independent genre with its own place in the market. Reflecting on the spaces they have created mainly in Jeju, SPACE spoke with them about the development, evolution, and future of the stay. Editor
Interview Noh Kyungrok co-principal, Z_Lab, Kang Haecheon principal, Z_Lab Architects × Bang Yukyung
Bang: Based on all these experiences, I imagine Z_Lab has built up some internal know-how or a set of shared guidelines over time.
Kang: One of the biggest differences between Z_Lab and a typical architecture firm is that we see the process through all the way to the final step of actual use. We design with everything in mind – bedding, curtains, tableware, furniture, small objects, even room sprays – so there are details that only we notice. This becomes particularly important when it comes to maintenance. We have some internal rules we always follow. For instance, when placing a bed, we make sure not to attach both sides of the headboard to the wall so the manager can easily change the sheets every day. Sometimes, junior staff bring design references that include built-in furniture or fixed elements that can’t be moved. But for the stays we work on – unlike hotels – it can take two to three hours to clean and reset a single space. When too many high-maintenance features are added, it becomes physically unsustainable. Avoiding those and offering better alternatives has become part of our expertise.
Noh: Even the language we use as architects has changed. Warmth, texture, scent, and light—these weren’t elements we considered all that important when designing in the past. In architecture, ‘detail’ usually refers to the way materials are joined, how surfaces are finished, or how structural components meet. But for users, what registers as detail is often things like the texture of a surface or the scent of a space. If I had to name one area of know-how we’ve built up internally, it’s this: when we renovate an old house, we’re adamant about preserving its original structure and sense of height. Sure, raising the ceiling or removing a column could improve usability, but once you start disrupting that spatial proportion – one that’s been shaped by time and cultural context – it’s nearly impossible to recreate. Often, simply changing one element throws off the structure or distorts the balance of the space, and the project spirals into something else entirely. From those experiences, we’ve learned to encourage our project managers to hold back from over-intervening architecturally, and instead focus on drawing out the best possible ideas from within the constraints of the given conditions.
Bang: In cases like Jocheon Masil (2019), where the structure and layout were left untouched during remodeling, some might wonder, ‘What did the architect actually do?’
Noh: That question isn’t unique to stays—it applies across architecture. But when it comes to hospitality spaces, including stays, the ultimate goal is commercial success. While fundamental architectural values are important, we can’t ignore this reality due to our professional responsibility as architects. Our total design approach, encompassing planning, architectural design, and branding, can only be realised through a well-balanced budget structure. If too much is spent on construction, interiors and branding often suffer; if the architecture is underwhelming but lavish furnishings and décor try to compensate, the space feels imbalanced. We believe our core strength lies in allocating resources holistically to create a space with a distinct aura. At the start of each project, we align with the client on this philosophy and adjust the weighting across architecture, interior, styling, or furniture depending on the nature of the project. In the case of Stay Nureut, blending the building seamlessly into the natural surroundings was essential. That meant architecture took the lion’s share of the budget, while early landscaping features, like an ecological playground and natural pool, were deferred for future phases. Since we supervise most projects through to the end, it’s critical that the lead architect understands what must be protected all the way through. Only then can we deliver work that retains its coherence, quality, and character.
Kang: In Z_Lab’s earlier projects, we often placed greater emphasis on the architecture while making compromises elsewhere—landscaping might be just a layer of turf, or we’d furnish the space with off-the-shelf pieces. But over time, we’ve gradually shifted that balance, dialing back on architecture and focusing more on elevating the finish in other areas. That shift came from reflecting on what made people feel most comfortable and satisfied in our spaces. Through that process, we began to question ourselves: had we been designing these places solely through the lens of architecture, when we should have been reading them as experiences in space?
Bang: As time goes on, there’s growing criticism that the unique identity of Jeju is being consumed merely as an image. Have you encountered any particular challenges while working on stays under such conditions?
Noh: We do sometimes feel regret that the commercial side of our work has been overly spotlighted. One contributing factor, I believe, is photography. When planning a project budget, we deliberately include photography from the outset. That’s because we need to convey the narrative of the experience through images, making it easier for clients to understand. But once these experiential photographs – different from the architectural photography typically used in the field – get shared with the public, there’s a tendency to view our spaces as ‘Instagrammable’ or ‘overly commercial’. We’ve also been criticised for designing experiences that feel contrived, but I think that too is a limitation of the medium itself.
Kang: It’s frustrating to see how only a few fragmented scenes from the full arc of spatial experience we’ve designed are picked up, stitched together, and consumed on social media. Still, we accept this as part and parcel of working with stays, and we try not to dwell on it too much. That said, when we look at how these images are reproduced among the public, we become more aware that the way people understand and consume space is changing. If we’re to respond to that shift in the market, the scope and approach of what architects engage with – and how we define our role – will also have to evolve.
Bang: With STAYFOLIO co-founder Lee Sangmuk stepping down from the company last year, the formal connection between Z_Lab and STAYFOLIO has also come to a close. What lessons did you take away from running the platform and collaborating over the years?
Noh: As a business model, a platform requires economies of scale. The stay market grew rapidly during the pandemic, and we had to bring in more staff and offer the kind of specialised services that growth demanded. That’s when we truly realised how fundamentally different this direction was from the architectural design business. Design firms, by nature, operate on a micro level, working to heighten the completeness of each individual project. In contrast, a platform business grows on a macro scale. When we separated the businesses in 2015, the difference became very apparent. Even so, our near decade-long collaboration with STAYFOLIO was crucial—not only in raising awareness of Z_Lab’s work, but also in helping to establish the stay market as a recognised and enduring field.
Bang: How do you foresee the future of the stay-oriented architecture market evolving?
Noh: The stay market has already undergone a process of leveling up. It’s become so widespread that even well-known hotel brands are launching their own ‘stay’ concepts. At the same time, I’ve found myself feeling somewhat frustrated with the limitations of the single-unit stays that proliferated rapidly during the pandemic. While they’re relatively easy for designers to simulate and control, they’ve evolved into spaces designed to satisfy only a select few—ultimately becoming isolated from their surroundings. Recently, more clients are moving beyond the idea of a stay as a standalone accommodation. They’re starting to envision hybrids; stays that are fused with cafés, private residences, or even hostel formats. If you look at our own portfolio, single-unit stays used to make up 70 – 80% of our projects. Today, that number has dropped to around 30%. Some clients now choose not to list on STAYFOLIO at all, preferring to manage their spaces independently through Airbnb. We’ve also seen designers who once worked in our office go on to create smaller-scale, lower-cost accommodations with unique emotional signatures—like indie bands in the lodging market. It’s a sign that the market is diversifying.
Kang: In most fields, when a particular category becomes deeply developed, it tends to branch out into more genres. But at a certain point, those genres start to collapse, and the boundaries between them become blurred. I think the stay market has reached that moment. And when that happens, things tend to return to the core, whatever that may be. That’s what we’re trying to figure out now.
Bang: Amid these shifts, what direction is Z_Lab envisioning for the next chapter in stay architecture?
Noh: Drawing from our experiences over the years, we’ve developed a growing sense of purpose: to contribute to the revitalisation and recognition of aging towns and small local communities. Naturally, this has led us beyond the pursuit of offering a good individual travel experience. We’ve started thinking more deeply about how people relate to one another, how communities are formed, and how we engage with the local context. Our village hotel experiment in Seochon, the transformation of a decommissioned elementary school in Chuncheon into Owol School (2020), and Stay Nureut are all outcomes of that evolving perspective. Most recently, we’ve worked on Myungjigak 1956 (2024), a public-private project in Namwon that converted a traditional hanok restaurant into a boutique hanok hotel. These projects point to new possibilities for coexistence and mutual growth with local communities.
Kang: Stay Nureut wasn’t simply a lodging facility, it was approached with a master plan in mind. It was part of a broader revitalisation initiative for the Borumwat area in Jeju, centered on agriculture as a local industry. The larger vision was to generate employment opportunities and establish a foundation for secondary and tertiary industries built around local specialties. We see stay architecture as playing a vital role in achieving both community revitalisation and sustainable economic development.
You can see more information on the SPACE No. August (2025).
Noh Kyungrok
Noh Kyungrok graduated from Sungkyunkwan University with a degree in architectural engineering and began his career at the architectural firm 2105. In 2014, he co-founded Z_Lab with Lee Sangmuk and Park Junghyun, leading the team to uncover regional identities through a total design approach. In 2015, he co-founded the stay platform STAYFOLIO, and currently serves as co-principal of Z_Lab, overseeing its architectural division.
Kang Haecheon
Kang Haecheon earned both his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in architectural engineering from Sungkyunkwan University. He spent six years at See Architects before founding flat1103 in 2016, where he focused on small-scale residential and commercial projects. He joined Z_Lab in 2018 and now serves as principal of Z_Lab Architects. He also teaches as an adjunct professor in the department of architecture at Sungkyunkwan University.
Z_Lab
Z_Lab is a design collective that builds places and spaces anchored in personal narratives. Their scope spans planning, branding, architectural design, spatial design, and styling—all with the aim of offering new interpretations and experiences of what it means to stay somewhere. Architectural design is led by Noh Kyungrok, while brand and styling direction is overseen by Park Junghyun. Since 2018, the team has collaborated through a licensed architecture office, Z_Lab Architects. Notable projects include Around Follie, Owol School, Janwol, Breathe Hotel Yangyang, and Stay Nureut.
