younghan chung's light hollow house in korea combines defined rooms and 'variable' spaces

architect younghan chung continues his experiments in the realm of residential housing with ‘light hollow’, a dwelling in the south korean port city of busan. the project is an extension of the architect’s ‘9×9 experimental house’, which challenged existing housing types with a series of undefined living areas to be used as the occupant wished. building on this theme, ‘light hollow’ affords its occupants great flexibility with a series of ‘variable’ spaces that can be used in a variety of different ways. however, unlike the aforementioned ‘9×9’ house, ‘light hollow’ combines these ‘variable’ spaces with defined areas such as the kitchen, living room, and bedrooms.

all images © yoon, joonhwan

younghan chung designed the floor plan of ‘light hollow’ according to a square division of nine parts resembling the chinese character ‘井’. whereas the ‘9×9 experimental house’ featured a spatial composition derived from a floor plan in which nine heterogeneous realms were directed towards a central space, this residential project first divided the floor plan into ‘floating floors’ — deferring to a section plan with an organization of varied hierarchies.

the architect explains that this spatial composition called for a steel structure. each of the divided floors become wall-less rooms or large platforms that serve as staircases. ‘as the functionally defined realms and the undefined variable areas overlap, the floor seems to flow and connect as if floating,’ says younghan chung. ‘such areas coalesce into one, creating several voids throughout the section and the floorplan. residents will find their gaze travels and traverse multi-dimensionally across these voids, as the design intends to continuously incite conversations with the gaze.’

located on a relatively large plot measuring 152 square meters (1,636 square feet), the site is surrounded by multiple buildings, including other residences, meaning that privacy was a big concern for the client. in response, the architect constructed a ‘slightly conservative façade’ with louvers that obscures the home’s bright and open internal configuration. windows and skylights fill the residence with natural light and frame carefully selected views of the city outside.

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project info:


architect: younghan chung architects (younghan chung)
location: 72 muhak-ro, suyeong-gu, busan, republic of korea

program: house

site area: 152.00 sqm

building area: 90.90 sqm

gross floor area: 284.72 sqm

building scope: 4F

parking: 2

height: 12.82 m
building to land ratio: 59.80%

floor area ratio: 187.32%

structure: steel structure

exterior finishing: THK1.6 aluminum design panel

interior finishing: gypsum board 2ply on dunn edward paint fin.

structural engineer: teo structure (park byung soon)

construction: dwelling partners + lee kyejun

design period: apr 2017 – dec 2018

construction period: dec 2018 – dec 2019

completion: dec 2019
client: sulki jung, yun-hyoung seol
photography: yoon, joonhwan