Visang House by Hoon Moon is located in Korea and embodies the attitude of not taking itself so seriously. This “happy” approach to architecture is no accident, as Hoon Moon embraces the idealism of not taking design so seriously. He creates structures that embody the spirit of joy and whimsy.
More specific to Hoon Moon’s approach is to create a home that embraces laughter or satire. This leaves behind the traditional Korean approach of creating homes with “Maldugi” or rule of class. Hoon Moon prefers instead to expose social contradictions through imagery of structure.
Each of his designs, including Visang House, is a personal exploration of taste, experience and assumptions. They embrace no particular style and that is what is so incredibly enticing about Visang House. The structure appears more like a sculptural installation then a building, filled with carefully planned positive and negative shapes and patterns that come together in a stunning vignette that is the home’s facade.
Visang House appears to be reaching for the stars and while doing so stretches its skeletal membrane exposing the inner workings – or social zone. This imagery is so on point with his muse: “Stretch to the Sky as an Inchworm, Reveal or Erase Himself”. A muse which, read on its own without the context of this house, would be hard to picture.
What is clear is that the main entrance to the home “reveals” itself only upon closer inspection. It is one small piece to the overall composition.
There is more then one entry point within the main level stretch of glazings, but the projecting peak defines the main one. This projecting peak is the inversion of the angular roof dip above.
There is also a back door and, unlike the entries on the glass facade, the back door has been punctuated with a bold shade of red. The combination of the red door under a squared off overhang and the angular division between the white and charcoal facade makes an artistic statement worthy of a canvas.
The choice of red for the back door was a deliberate nod to the use of the same color throughout the interior spaces – in similarly bold punctuations.
Carefully planned shapes created with positive and negative applications are not singled out for the structure but are also created via the raised deck, the pea gravel surround and the raised concrete walkway.
It’s such a clever exterior that it simply begs to be entered so one can discover what other unique details have been created by Hoon Moon.
Once inside, the magic continues with the same angular zig zags, forming intricate shadow patterns across the floors.
Visang House is extremely close to its neighbor but the carefully planned architectural shapes draw your eye away from the solid structure a few meters away, and keeps it instead on the artistic volume within.
The main level is designed with the living room at one end followed by a wall of storage, a bathroom, the kitchen and finally a stairwell that leads to the second level.
The living room features a built in sofa that spans the length of the space. With the seating incorporated into a wall of books, the vignette is itself a sculptural formation that plays off of the stairwell and platform above.
The living room is the only double volume space within the home. While this opening up of the space appears to be designed specifically for this room, there is a hidden agenda upstairs.
On the platform above the living room, an integrated theater wall is designed to be watched not just from the mezzanine, but from the master suite as well.
The mezzanine is fitted with a bench – just below a wall void into the master suite.
There are two voids within the master suite wall, so whether you prefer watching a movie or a game from the bed or a chair there is always an excellent viewing station.
When not in use, the integrated theater disappears from sight and appears to be nothing more then a ledge that supports a speaker system. Now the mezzanine turns into a respite before continuing on to the third level.
The stairs to the third level lead to a large window that doubles as the access to the top floor patio.
Around the corner from the steps is a media wall. It’s perfect for entertaining large groups of people – all of whom will be none the wiser to the theater below. But the most exciting part of the home’s architecture is just around the corner.
We are absolutely loving this catwalk that leads to the rest of the third floor. Simply amazing.
Hoon Moon
Photography by Nam-goongsun
