Iroje KHM Architects was established by Kim Hyo Man in the year 1991 in Seoul, South Korea. Kim Hyo Man has had an illustrious career with his magnificent and unique design creations. Iroje KHM Architects has won multiple international and national awards in the past three plus decades.
Project ‘Ga On Jai’ is a monumental site of South Korea. Going back in time, the Korean government held ‘the house expo’ in the Gangnam district to construct the ‘Expo Town’ of low-rise residences.
Interestingly, every site of the ‘Expo Town’ was designed by renowned Korean architects during the early 2000s. Project ‘Ga On Jai’s owner wanted to built a new home to make a statement of his own. The old house was brought down for the new magnificent design creation by Kim Hyo Man.
The client realized the exterior spaces of the old house were narrow, bootless and the inner spaces were dark. “The client was very clear and insisted to maximize the efficiency of land use and the new house should have ecological spaces. These two were the most important requirements of the client,” recollects Kim Hyo Man.
Kim Hyo Man’s genius mind to design the house in such a fashion served all the requirements of the client to perfection. Privacy, secured, blocking unwanted noise and smoke was well thought of, while designing one of the most insular layouts of a modern house.
The house was designed brilliantly not only to absorb the surrounding landscape, but also provide a picturesque view of the beautiful mountainous landscape.
Project ‘Ga On Jai’ standout as a unique structure at the ‘Expo Town’ to highlight the cultural identity. The town represents desirable planned residences in Korea.
Kim Hyo Man explains, “We solved the requirement of introvert space, ecological environment and functional outdoor spaces by introducing ‘Madang’ – in Korean language means ‘Inner Court’. The amazing result was healthy nature, live environment and beautiful landscape all around.”
Kim Hyo Man introduced ‘Ru’ – meaning rampart in Korean architecture – to absorb the dynamic and picturesque landscape of the mountainous scenic view. From the living room, the beautiful view of the surrounding mountains is alluring and soothing in nature.
The expanse under ‘Ru ’is the beginning of approach and part of a dramatic sequence of strolling course in spaces of this house, cavernous in nature.
The architect introduced ‘Cheoma’ – meaning cantilevered roof in Korean – for the floating roof of the house. The ‘Choema’ acts as a resistance during rough weather condition and simultaneously revives the traditional language of Korean architecture.
The existing site’s topographical features are the highlights of the Project ‘Ga On Jai’. The ‘lower Madang’, ‘higher Madang’ and multiple skip-floored inner spaces were designed as different levels to each other, so that they provided interesting route to stroll all around the house.
All the programs of spaces of the house were laid out as the touring course to have a dramatic interest of ‘strolling’ through the inside and outside of the house, visually and spatially.
“The natural adaptation to nature has been the basic character of Korean culture of architecture,” concludes Kim Hyo Man.
Image Courtesy: Iroje KHM Architects
I love the way the inside and outside of the house blends into the natural landscape. I just bought 56 acres in the meremac/river/caves area of Missouri. Something like this would blend perfectly in that area. What a beautiful dream.
Thank you so much Dena Sharon Reese for being an avid reader and observer of our global platform. Yes, renowned Korean architect Kim Hyo Man’s design creations is simply magnificent as you have noted. Whenever you build something like this project, I would love to feature your villa. Till then, happy reading!