Alley in the House
A House for a family in old residential district in Seoul.
‘Yeonhui-ro 11 ma-gil’ is a major walking trail that cuts across an old residential district to the back mountain range of Yeon-hui-dong, Seoul. The numerous stairs that crisscross the alley street and the back mountain are also a part of “Yeonhui-ro 11 ma-gil” the approach scaling the stairs and facing the houses resembles the grand stairs of a hotel or the entrance to an ancient palace. Having I lived in yeonhui-dong for about 20years, I always felt that this place was underused. I thought it would be nice to have people sit by the stairs, engage in conversation, spend time reading, or hold small parties, but all these merely remained potential options.
I decided to bring this potential into a home. I wanted this road to continue into the house. When there are two walls, the space between turns into a road. Between building and a wall, or between two walls, There is an alleyway. Just as there is a wide staircase between houses, I place a wide staircase between the rooms. the staircase is somewhat wide in relation to the scale of the house overall. And because it is the brightest spot in the house, the children often sit there to read. Following the “road”, there is even the fun of crossing a bridge- in this way, the question that I wondering from the beginning was this: ‘why should outside and inside be difference?’ It is still Yeonhui-dong inside the house.”
