Villa Topoject | AND

The house is located in a small valley in a mountainous area near Seoul, Korea. While the valley slopes upward, series of houses intermittently continue facing a 3 meter wide road. Instead of making walls or fences towards the road, the house gently lifts up the topography to form private spaces inside. The house opens up toward the south view and a small creek running along the side.

It is a home for a couple who wants to enjoy rural life while still commuting to the city. It is a small house, but at the same time, a house that entails rich stories. The residents are in contact with land like farmers; also, they observe nature like tourists.
Gradually lifted landscape of the mountainous topography becomes a floating mass over a little stream. Villa Topoject rejects the dichotomy of object building versus landscape building.

It is a mutant born as a hybrid of the two kinds, and it focuses on the transformation process between the two typologies. The boundary of the site is pulled in as the topography becomes an object, creating semi private outdoor spaces. The private living spaces are formed inside. The continuous exterior spaces meet the interior spaces at all levels adding compact, yet rich spatial qualities. The boundary between exterior and interior, land and building, subject and object becomes ambiguous.

Project Info:
Architects: AND
Location: Gyeonggi-do, South Korea
Architects: Architecture of Novel Differentiation (AND)
Area: 199.0 sqm
Project Year: 2010
Photographs: Byun