The layers

This project is a second house for an elderly couple who plan to go back to Korea after living abroad for a long time. The site is located at the foot of Mt. Toema in Ganghwa-gun, Incheon, which is 1 hour north-westwards from Seoul. It is open toward the mountain in the south, and the reservoir in the north, approximately 86m x 25m elongated land borders a forest and an adjacent road. Since the house was for the elderly couple as the main users, studio OBBA simplified the spatial structure, avoiding stairs or elevated parts.

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This single-story building is structured as four masses, extending in the north-south direction and horizontally layered in the east-west direction. Although it is viewed as a blocked facade from the road, by entering the building, one encounters a wide interior view via a long corridor that penetrates through the four layered spaces stretching out to the east-west direction.

Each layer differs in thickness and length, depending on its character, and each contains the main entrance and the guest room; the kitchen and the dining room; the living room; the study room and the master room. In addition, the surface of each layer has different roughness, ranging from the smooth finish on the outer part to the rough and rigid yellow stone finish at the deepest part, intensifying the perceptional depth through its disposition of layered spaces.

The layers, Ganghwa-gun, South Korea
Program: single family house
Architect: OBBA
Area: 219 sqm
Completion: 2016

Domus

The layers

The single family house, designed by Korean studio OBBA, features a long corridor that penetrates through the four layered spaces stretching out to the east-west direction.

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