Location: Gwangju, South Korea

Site size: 8,500 square feet

Project size: 2,800 square feet

Program: The architects built this small, two-floor house with the goal of preserving an old-fashioned way of life during a time of rapid change in Seoul’s upscale Gangnam district, as city planning ushered in new construction.

Solution: Willow House is composed of two volumes on a tight site, one C-shaped and the other rectangular, both with single-pitched roofs. The C-shaped volume is wrapped around an open court, with public living spaces grouped on one side and the private ones on the other. The rectangular volume, a guest house, fills in the open end of the site. Upstairs, on the second floor, is another bedroom.

Construction and materials: The structure of the building is reinforced concrete with brick cladding, Ipe wood trim, and standing-seam zinc roofing.

Additional Information

Client: Sangok Lee

Completion date: December 2017