SOSOWON Residence

SOSOWON Residence
© Joel Moritz

SOSOWON Residence

mlt architects

ARCHITECTS
Mlt architects

STRUCTURAL ENGINEERING
YOON Structure Engineers

LEAD ARCHITECTS
Sunmin Kim

PHOTOGRAPHS
Joel Moritz

AREA
149 m²

YEAR
2023

LOCATION
Icheon-si, South Korea

CATEGORY
Houses

.SITE

The client decided to move from a condominium to a small town in Icheon, Gyeonggi-do, near his workplace.

SOSOWON Residence
© Joel Moritz
SOSOWON Residence
© Joel Moritz

The site was in the center of the existing village, which was a bit of a drawback for single-family homes that value privacy. There were various levels around the site.

The western side of the site is 1.5m higher, the eastern side is 1.5m lower, and the single-family house in the southeast is 2m higher and offers a view of the site.

SOSOWON Residence
© Joel Moritz
SOSOWON Residence
© Joel Moritz

This level difference could have been a drawback for the placement of the house, but instead, mlt tried to use the level difference to overcome the unfavorable conditions.

COURTYARD

The client proposed a single-story house with a ㄷ-shaped floor plan and a small yard at the beginning of the architectural planning.

SOSOWON Residence
© Joel Moritz
SOSOWON Residence
© Joel Moritz

The house did not need to be big because only the client couple would live as their children became independent. They planned to expand the space by connecting the living room with the yard for guests and free activities.

Since the activities in the yard would be more dynamic and accessible to more people than static, the meaning of the yard to the overall living space was more important.

So, to make it wider than the size of the yard that the ㄷ-shape has, they made it into a 八-shape.

SOSOWON Residence
© Joel Moritz
SOSOWON Residence
© Joel Moritz
SOSOWON Residence
© Joel Moritz

As a result, the yard was placed on the south side to create the brightest possible environment, and the rooms would open up in that direction as much as possible.

EMBRACING HOUSE

mlt planned a house that would embrace the yard by arranging the hallway, living room, and master bedroom around the yard.

mlt made the roof look low from the higher neighboring land on the west side, and the mass of the building was visible from the lower neighboring land on the east side.

SOSOWON Residence
© Joel Moritz
SOSOWON Residence
© Joel Moritz

mlt created a horizontal floating strip to privatize the yard and to block the view from the single-family homes on the southeast. This makes the yard cozier, but not claustrophobic, by maintaining the continuity of the land from the human eyes.

Furthermore, they planned an 八-shaped floor plan to increase the area of the yard and ensure the independence of each room. MLT also planned a pentagonal form, including the horizontal strip of the yard.

SOSOWON Residence
© Joel Moritz
SOSOWON Residence
© Joel Moritz

Of the three sides, one side is composed of the living room and the public space of the kitchen, another side is composed of the master bedroom and guest room, and the last side is composed of the public space that makes up the entrance and restroom. Each side embraces the yard.


SOSOWON Residence
© Joel Moritz
SOSOWON Residence
© Joel Moritz
SOSOWON Residence
© Joel Moritz
SOSOWON Residence
© Joel Moritz


SOSOWON Residence
Elevation
SOSOWON Residence
Elevation


SOSOWON Residence
Section
SOSOWON Residence
Section
SOSOWON Residence
Section
SOSOWON Residence
Plan