9 THINGS TO UNDERSTAND SOSODAMDAM HOUSE
1. The site area was reduced from 51.2㎡ to 41.69㎡. According to the building laws, it has been changed due to the widening of the two-meter dead-end road located on the south side of the house.
2. The site is located in the center of the old urban area in Seoul, South Korea. And it faces the apartment (new city environment) across the 12-meter-wide road. Based on the road, it is at the interface of the urban environment of both the old downtown and the new one facing each other
3. When a building coverage ratio of 60% is applied, a floor area can be made up to 25.01㎡.
4. According to the request of the client, it is composed of living facilities for rent and independent housing programs in one building.
5. Considering the narrow site environment, rooftop is utilized as the external space.
6. It avoids unnecessary design to become one volume, and implements minimalist architecture. The texture is applied seamlessly, and the openings and windows are minimized so that they are perceived as one. (However, it is applied as long as it does not interrupt the living environment.)
7. The dot design perforated on the outer wall is planned for a homogeneous wall and secured privacy of the occupants.
8. The stairs connecting the floors are not partitioned separately, but projects onto the space. The skip floor is applied together to reduce the fatigue of vertical movement and to utilize the space in various ways.
9. We paid homage to the architectural walk of ‘Villa Saboa’. The dot design on the roof plays the role to shield the interior from external gaze and also as the picture frame that completes the ending of the architectural trail.
Skip-Floor (middle space connecting with two stories)
The skip-floor (split-level) format plays the role of both implying space and reducing the vertical movement distance at the same time.
The step height of each level applies the usable step height in one space. When each level is separated due to a height difference, the available space becomes smaller. To apply this, it is necessary to understand the characteristics and lifestyle of residents. Hence, the height of the step is made reflecting the living dimensions. When using a stair to sit, we set each step height to 400mm~450mm, and to use step as a table, set its height to 720mm~750mm. The remainder after subtracting the step is to be the height of the stairs going up to the next floor.EX. Suppose one level is 3000mm and the step difference is 400mm, the step height will be 2600mm.Here, an open stair form is planned a functional role not only to connect all floors, but also to secure an unobstructed view. Instead of dividing the circulation into a separate space, it can be used as a living space together along with the skip-floor.
Space Composition (Narrowing the range by defining the living radius)
The interior with the skip-floor is composed of 5 floors including the roof. Due to the characteristic of the usaul skip-floor, each floor has a link between hierarchies and functions. Except the ground floor which can be used as a separate space, the living space starts from the second floor. The program is made up of2nd floor (living room à kitchen, dining room) à 3rd floor (master bedroom à bathroom, powder room) à 4th floor (study room à bedroom) à rooftop.
As the space moves from the external environment to the inside, the hierarchy of the internal space also deepens from the public place to the private one. Nevertheless, the reason for placing the master bedroom on the 3rd floor is because the residents’ real life radius is tied to the 2nd and 3rd floors. The 4th floor and the roof were set up as extra spaces for residents to change and use as occasion demands. If you utilize whole these spaces from end to end every day without limiting the real life radius, the occupant's fatigue would increase. Areas need to be separated, so that you can use them selectively.
Let's make it into one big mass(monolithic mass). That is the reason why the most ordinary things are loved by people. “Simple is best.”
On such occasion to require stacking several planes on a narrow site, usually we expect that a vertically long structure would be made after all. As it can be seen appreciably from the adjoined low-rise residential buildings, it is natural for a building to stand out due to the inherent. Besides, it is necessary to create an overstretched external appearance of the building that can handle the resultant gaze.
In order to endure the weight of time, we had to choose the most ordinary (normal) look. In other words, it means to be familiar to the people’s eyes by looking at it for a long time; Familiarity is in the same vein as being common. Except for essential functional elements, we create a simple building without unnecessary decorations on the exterior.
Secure The Surface As Much As Possible By Making Functional Openings Only.
When viewed from the front, the opening is placed on the left side where a room is located. As we mentioned before, we didn’t make nonvital doors and windows to protect the privacy. And a face is made on the right side where the stairs are located. (The stairwell window is at the rear.) Each of these openings was adapted for functional use (lighting, ventilation, view). Among the five openings, dot-shaped layers were installed on the 3rd, 4th, and 5th floors to make the planes continuous.
The dot design has two intentions. One intention is for that it would be a shield to protect the interior from the gaze of neighboring buildings including the apartment buildings on the opposite side. The other is for that people are able to notice the face of the building first, not the openings with the small circles. It makes passers-by think that the building wall is perforated.
A single mass created in this way faces the urban environment with the most ordinary impression we can take. Just like the name of SOSODAMDAM meaning of ‘simple’ in Korea, the house takes the form of the simplest figure
-Main Information
Project Name: Sosodamdam House (Korean word '소소담담’)
Office Name: TIUM Architects
Office Website: https://www.tiumdesign.com
Social Media Accounts: instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tium_architects
Contact email: [email protected]
Firm Location: 36, Bangbae-ro 11-gil, Seocho-gu, Seoul, Republic of Korea
Completion Year: 2017
Gross Built Area (m2/ ft2): 75.42 m2
Project Location: Musumak-gil, Seongdong-gu, Seoul, Republic of Korea
Program / Use / Building Function: house
Lead Architects: Cha Seokheon / Kang Sungjean / Lee Dongjin
Lead Architects e-mail: [email protected]
