A massive concrete frame wraps over the top of this house in South Korea by A.M Architects and shelters a traditional narrow porch (+ slideshow).
The house near the town of Bongsan-myeon also features an assortment of freestanding walls and projecting canopies.
"The concept of 'architecture like promenade', which accumulates spacial experience is well expressed in piled walls with sequential views of the interior and exterior, serving as an element to add a sense of depth and the direction of entry," said A.M Architects.
Beginning with a straightforward cuboid, the architects removed boxy sections to create voids in the building's facades and reduced these volumes to surfaces that act as a backdrop for three trees planted around the boundaries of the site.
The rectangular frame that surrounds the front of the building casts dynamic shadows onto the toenmaru - a narrow wooden patio that can be accessed from the study.
A freestanding concrete wall signals the main entrance to the house, which is accessed via a short flight of wooden steps.
As well as the front steps, wood is used for the terraces and to clad one section of the building's front facade, providing a warm contrast to the stark cast concrete walls.
From inside the entry hall a window directly opposite provides a view of one of the trees at the back of the property.
A corridor traversing the house from east to west culminates in a window on the east elevation that looks out at another tree.
The house's bedrooms, study and living room are arranged off this central corridor, which incorporates a skylight to introduce natural light into the space.
The main living room at the west end of the corridor connects to the kitchen and dining area and to a large wooden deck that projects into the garden.
Low windows provide additional daylight and views of the gardens outside, while a tall window looks out towards a distant mountain that is framed by the large concrete rectangle.
Photography is by Kim Jae Kyeong.
Here's a project description from A.M Architects:
MUN JEONG HEON
Architecture like Promenade
The concept of Architecture like Promenade, which accumulates spacial experience, well expressed in piled walls with sequential view of interior and exterior, which servers as an element to add sense of depth and the direction of entry.
The controlled form of the entrance placed in the entry part is an objet for moving toward another space. On going into the entry space, the house, surrounded by horizontal free-standing walls floating in the air, appears overlapped. Free-standing walls of exposed concrete to emphasise horizontal stream are used as a method to attract people's eyes and become visually magnified.
The light of nature falling long in dynamic angles through the cantilever decoration beam protruded from the flat surface of the wall, the light of nature falling is naturally ushered to the deck in front of the entrance with the property of concrete, and makes the place of main entrance recognised with free-standing walls. Also, the glance extending long along the stream of free-standing wall stays a little far in the foot of the mountain passing over spindle tree fence.
Enter the inside, over the transparent window, we can see a tree in the back yard along the grass extending the floor all in one, which is the architectural element to induce boundless horizontal extension of the space visually.
As soon as we go into the living room along the corridor, we can feel the energy of the extended light going down softly through the ceiling. The composition of walls repeating solid and void serves as an element of architectural promenaded which makes us feel the outside and inside space sequentially with the natural light, and guides the direction of entry with tension.
Free-Standing Walls for Selective View
The inner garden seen from the living room expressing the changing seasons with free-standing walls for selective view keeps an indirect eye on the landscape of distant mountain hanged at the end of exposed concrete free-standing walls through toenmaru connected visually with the study. Such architectural element becomes a device to draw nature selectively, and to makes a metaphoric communication between interior space and exterior space possible.
The domain created through a layer and a layer communicates with nature along with various forms of walls controlling the visual and spatial movements. Organic setting up of interior and exterior spaces connecting to corridor, back yard, living room, inner garden, study and toenmaru creates the architecture of incessant relationship and stream.
Architects: A.M Architects
Architect in charge: Kim Tae Yun
Location: Taehwa-ri, Bongsan-myun, Kimcheon-si, Kyeongsangbuk-do, Korea
Area: 99.82m2