This project began with the desire of an elderly couple nearing retirement to leave behind the complexities of city life and build a small, modest home that brings them closer to nature. The couple, who speak the rich dialect of Busan, were born and raised in the city and are used to living in apartments. Their request for their new home was simple: they wanted a place that was comfortable to live in and could frame the natural scenery. They also wanted to change their way of life from urban living.
The fundamental concept for this house was based on the traditional notion of the house for a home. Our traditional house had long been a collection of interconnected rooms. When our ancestors spoke of a house of one kan(a unit for 3.3m2) and a house with 100 kans, they referred to a total floor area of the rooms of a house. Each of the rooms were called not as a living room, a bedroom, a study, or a bathroom according to the functions used in the western world, but as an inner room, an opposite room, a gate-side room, a back room (for a lavatory, which was in the backyard of the house) according to the location of rooms. When people spread out the bedding, the room becomes a bedroom; when a table, the room becomes a dining room; when a desk, it became a study; and when people spread out a mattress, it becomes a playroom. In other words, the room was a flexible, undefined space in state of “emptiness”. Additionally, rooms are not partitioned by walls and doors in the same rigid manner as in Western homes. Instead, walls can be moved to combine or separate spaces based on how they are used. If all the partitions are left open, the user can move from room to room, endlessly returning to the starting point. In other words, it is not about entering and exiting rooms but rather transitioning from one room to another in an ongoing flow.
From the Auraji Pier where the Gujeolcheon stream flowing from the north and the Goljicheon stream flowing from the east meet, if you continue down for 30 ri [里] (approximately 12 kilometers), you will reach the point where they merge with the Odaecheon stream. The site is embraced by Baegseokbong Mountain to the north, Mindunsan Mountain to the south, Garigwangsan Mountain to the west, and Namsan Mountain to the east. Located at the edge of a wide plain south of the Odaecheon River in the village of Nampyeong-ri, the land offers an open view in all directions, making it easy to find a seat where every vista harmonizes with nature. Additionally, the form of interconnected rooms-the collection of rooms-directly interacts with the surrounding nature, allowing for natural ventilation and light, making it a healthy living space. This is the perfect kind of home for the beautiful Nampyeong area, and it will bring joy to its users.
As you step through the front door, the first partition prompts you to choose a direction. No matter which direction is chosen, the destination can be reached, but the sequence of the journey will always be different, which creates a point of contemplation. From the small jungjeong (central courtyard) at the center, a room with a sofa and TV (living room) faces another room with an eight-person dining table (dining room). Beyond that, you can hear the sound of the Odaecheon River flowing through the madang (garden), and see the trees of Garigwangsan swaying in the distance. If you move from the kitchen to the dining room and then open the partition to the inner room (anbang), you will find a large sarangchae (main gathering room) where you can enjoy the madang and have meals together. If you open the partition to the opposite room (geonneobang), you will find a small sarangchae where you can enjoy the red hues of a maple tree-filled jungjeong, serving as a backdrop for conversation. All these rooms, though each independent, come together to form a series of undefined, empty spaces.
As the small house neared completion, the owners requested that we name it. The name, [作 小 卑 家], literally means 'a house built small and low.' In essence, it conveys the idea that the house, though small, is precious, and its value lies in its emptiness, its ability to be empty.
