Two Gabled Volumes, One Landscape丨BRBB Architects

Architects:BRBB Architects

Area:317m²

Year:2023

Photographs:Seokgue Hong

Category:Houses

City:Hoengseong-gun

Country:South Korea

Text description provided by the architects. The Shin-Dae-Ri House in Hoengseong was designed for an elderly couple seeking to leave behind their long life in Seoul and settle into a quieter existence immersed in nature. The site is located in a small mountain village in Gangwon Province, where the land rises toward a wooded hillside at the back and opens toward a valley with a stream in front. Surrounded by layered mountain ridges, the house is conceived as a place where the couple can cultivate a garden, tend a small field, and experience the changing seasons as part of their daily life.

The elongated site sits on a gentle slope. The front portion is left open for a garden and vegetable patch, while the house is positioned toward the rear, closer to the mountain. This arrangement allows the building to overlook the open yard while visually aligning with the slope behind, anchoring it naturally within the landscape.

The architecture is defined by a clear contrast between a solid concrete base and two light timber volumes placed above it. The ground floor, built in exposed concrete, establishes a sense of permanence and stability. Its horizontally extended mass forms a plinth that engages directly with the terrain, while deep overhangs create shaded outdoor areas that mediate between inside and outside.

Resting on this base, two gabled timber volumes accommodate the couple's private living spaces. Slightly rotated from one another, the volumes open toward different directions, capturing varied views and daylight conditions. Together, they frame the surrounding landscape in distinct yet complementary ways, forming a unified composition—two gables, one landscape.

The plan unfolds along two subtly diverging axes, generating a courtyard on the south side of the ground floor. Defined by extended concrete walls, this courtyard creates a protected outdoor space that ensures privacy from neighboring sites while allowing light and sky to enter deep into the interior.

Inside, the vertical sequence from the ground floor to the upper level is emphasized through material continuity. Birch plywood lines the stairwell and extends into the upper rooms, softening the transition between levels. A high window along the stairs captures glimpses of the mountain to the north, revealing the landscape gradually through movement and reinforcing the connection between the interior space and its surroundings.

Through the juxtaposition of heavy and light, base and volume, the house articulates a way of living grounded in stability yet open to its environment. The two gabled forms, while distinct in orientation and character, ultimately converge in their relationship to the site—together composing a single, continuous experience of the landscape.

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