Architects: Todot Architects and Partners
Area: 192 m²
Year: 2023
Photographs: Jinbo Choi
Lead Architects: Mo Seungmin, Cho Byung Kyu
General Contractors: KSPNC
Structural Consultants: Zess Consultancy
Mechanical Consultants: Hanbit Safety Technology Group
Electrical Consultants: Chunil MEC
Design Team: Lee Jae Jun
City: Yangpyeong-gun
Country: South Korea
Raw House, designed by Todot Architects and Partners, is situated on a mountainside with a distant view of the ridge and vibrant natural light. The architects embraced the site’s steep terrain, seeking to integrate the house harmoniously with its natural surroundings while providing a functional living space.
The site is on a mountainside with a view of a distant ridge and vibrant natural light from the sun behind the mountain terrain. The design team’s initial thought was to accept nature as it is, reflecting an attitude of living harmoniously within it. With the site featuring a height difference of over two stories, accessing the road at the higher side, the flat ground suitable for the building was limited and on a hill.
To address this, the design team carefully cut and arranged spaces and yards according to their views and functions. They separated the living room, designated as the husband’s area, from the dining room and kitchen, which are the wife’s areas, placing them on the second and first floors, respectively.
The design aimed to retain the sloping yard by constructing a concrete terrain at the boundary between the high and low sides of the site, thereby embracing nature as much as possible. The building was raised on pilotis, allowing it to sit straight and elevated off the ground. After the design was completed, preparation work on a neighboring site leveled the lower sloping yard, prompting a reconsideration of the piloti space utilization.
In response, the second-floor massing was arranged in a crisscross pattern to avoid conflicting views and divide the yard into four distinct areas, each with unique characteristics. This layout became the focal point of the house, offering unusual views from every room and making the house the backdrop for all the yards.
The owner plans to add a parking lot and gate on the access yard later. The concrete terrain elevates the house and embraces the yard, forming the facade. This approach considers the slope while incorporating natural materials to evoke a raw, temporal feeling. The wooden-structured house sits atop the strong artificial base, with natural materials embedded within the artificial terrain, creating a self-sustaining blend of physical properties.
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Project Location
Address: Yangpyeong-gun, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea
Location is for general reference and may represent a city or country, not necessarily a precise address.
