layered house incorporates an old blue roof house in korea, by starsis

the korean studio starsis renovated an old abandoned low-rise building in gyuam-myeon, korea. the place used to be most active, important traffic hub in buyeo-gun long time ago. it was most popular place in buyeo-gun in which the products from all over the country were actively interchange, before the bridge was built.

a part of the old building
all images © hong seokgyu

since the baekje great bridge was built to connect buyeo in 1968, visitors have declined gradually, and the traditional market and shopping districts were closed; this area became isolated. now, the segan project (urban regeneration project) will take place here.

the space of 700mm width behind the existing wall was made available as a landscape

first, segan project purchased buildings that were used to be modern commercial facilities; one of those buildings is a ‘blue roof house’ located in 8, subuk-ro 41beon-gil. there’s a large vacant lot in front of it, in which the traditional market was held to promote growth of town. the blue roof house used to be an old, humble restaurant where well-cooked meal and soups for visitors were sold. as time went by, it has transformed into a residential space.

the architects remodeled the old building with minimal amount of effort to create an available space

segan and starsis’s first project begins here, in this abandoned building. the bare space with missing layers seemed to be unstable and insecure with finishing materials piled one over another, a wall which is not aligned well both vertically and horizontally and structural materials that support the roof dangerously. ‘ironically, it was very touching and impressive to see this unstable building that does not function well’, the starsis team says. ‘the antique atmosphere all around reminds of old days; it was truly unexplainable beauty for us. we felt a compulsive need to leave things that silently guard this place as they are’.

the lest side is finished with steel panel.

therefore, the architects decided to remodel this building, rather than constructing a new one while removing structural role and elements of anxiety, with minimal amount of effort to create available space. as the old coat is taken off, ‘the blue roof house’ comes up with a new dress and is nicknamed ‘layered house’ which means ‘place a house on the top of house’.

the structural materials leaving deep hammer marks and patterned door were hung

the backyard garden in ‘layered house’ will be used as a place to dry dyeing fabric and in the vacant lot in front of the house events will be held. it’s desirable that ‘the layered house’ where awakens far back memories will spawn new culture and accumulate invaluable memories as the ‘segan’ continues to grow.

you can enjoy good natural light with front window

the circular pipe is equipped to use it as a hanger

structural materials of old days which stick their heads out are now used as plant hangers

inside of the dyeing studio

inside of the rooms

one of the rooms

project info:

director: starsis
designer: park hyunhee
location: 8, subuk-ro 41beon-gil, gyuam-myeon, buyeo-gun, chungcheongnam-do, republic of korea
site area: 116.67 sqm
building area: 75.15 sqm
construction: starsis
photographer: hong seokgyu
visual production: mr.ssam
project year: 2017

designboom has received this project from our ‘DIY submissions‘ feature, where we welcome our readers to submit their own work for publication. see more project submissions from our readers here.

edited by: maria erman | designboom