House in Nogyang | studio_GAON

‘House in Nogyang‘ is facing the boundary of the green belt, which boundary that the city can’t expand anymore. It is close to downtown but quiet, near to an apartment complex, elementary school, and Nogyang station.

This house is for three generations: three children, a couple, and their old mother. Each of them wanted their own room, and also has enough room for their basic living space, but the site area was 147㎡, which was pretty small. Besides, they had money for the building area could be only 147㎡, while some part of the land was scheduled to be transferred to a planned road. We just have had to find a way while building the house just to fit in the land.

Between people, we need appropriate distance, not too far or not too close. It’s a same story to a family. There were various special equipments to keep the distances between family members in old haunts, such as maru, yard, fences, and doors. However, modern houses have plenty of ‘space’ but no ‘private space’, so that individuals are observed and interfered by the many.

To secure the distance between people since the land is small and there are many family members, we laminated the spaces vertically. Private space and public space are arranged side by side on each floor that there is enough independence as well as exchange.

The 1st floor directly connected to the outside space is for their old mother. It was designed to have independence like a studio, equipping a bathroom and kitchenette. Further, to respond to the change of neighborhood or the lifecycle of the family, it has a separate entrance.

2nd floor is the main space of this house, which has the master bedroom, living room, kitchen, and utility room. This place has enough service space that the housewife can take care of the family in a proper distance. The room for 3 children is placed in the 3rd floor, and the small family room opened a slit on the floor to send light of the skylight to the 2nd floor.

The shape of the mass is following the shape of the land, especially emphasized on the 2nd floor terrace, that it feels like a wide opened window. While considering setback regulation, we put the boiler room on the front with the stairs heading to the rooftop, and it became a crude element. That made a small shade on the rooftop, and became a frame to represent a boundary where meets an old residential area and greenbelt.

The house is built on the boundary between traditional family concept and new paradigm. It’s such a weird boundary for them to build a house and live.