Space – August 2019

080 PROJECT MOYEOGA

MoYeoGa means a house in which to live together, but it also means ‘to gather’ in Gyeongsang-do dialect. In reality, 30 members of 8 families here gathered to discuss the project with their architect, select the final site, and to determine the house design. It first began with two families. Oh Sinwook joined forces with an old acquaintance, who dreamt of a house for living together and had long been an occupant in collective housing for cooperative childcare. More members joined one by one to eventually make up eight households. It was not easy to match up each other’s needs at the beginning. Some were worried about leaving their apartments and others were reluctant to share their terrace with others. The residents gathered to deliver their opinions on living together and tried to address each other’s complaints, and as a result even the share in space was adjusted.

It occurred to me that, aside from the difficulty in the process behind constructing this house, there would be a lot of problems after beyond occupation, such as maintenance and cleaning as they don’t have a caretaker. However, MoYeoGa’s residents said that there is no difficulty in tackling the cleaning and fixing as and when necessary. It felt like a natural and open process, of note particularly when the construction site manager who visited with me conversed with the residents on details of the building. Showing a book about community life to me, one of the interviewed residents revealed that the merits of community described in the book seemed exaggerated at first, but now it had come to be experienced as a reality. Someone told me about a noise complaint that had arisen regarding a resident who plays the drums. However, it had become acceptable once they were living everyday

face to face, in the same space. MoYeoGa’s architect has managed to put two contrasting ideas in one project: to have one’s own space and to live together. The opinions of the families and individuals were reflected in the design and a natural network has found realization in their efforts. As a result, people are creating a community, and have become gradually accepting of each other. To create a new type of multifamily housing different from the existing apartment houses, architects must focus on the relationship between the exclusive area and non-exclusive one. Here, they blur the boundary between the two areas and insert intermediate or transitional spaces. They adjust the closing of the exclusive area itself or alleviate it at various connection points. They have also planned a special meeting space. The focus is on how much remains closed or open, so that people can

A House for Cohabitation

Lim Sunghun professor, Tongmyong University

unit 103 roof top garden

unit 103 frontyard

frontyardunit 102 unit 202 balcony

unit 402 terrace unit 302terrace

public terrace

unit 301 terrace

unit 201 terrace

pubilc space (MoYeo-bang)

public roof top garden

public frontyard

public pool / play deck

Diagram

080 PROJECT MOYEOGA

MoYeoGa means a house in which to live together, but it also means ‘to gather’ in Gyeongsang-do dialect. In reality, 30 members of 8 families here gathered to discuss the project with their architect, select the final site, and to determine the house design. It first began with two families. Oh Sinwook joined forces with an old acquaintance, who dreamt of a house for living together and had long been an occupant in collective housing for cooperative childcare. More members joined one by one to eventually make up eight households. It was not easy to match up each other’s needs at the beginning. Some were worried about leaving their apartments and others were reluctant to share their terrace with others. The residents gathered to deliver their opinions on living together and tried to address each other’s complaints, and as a result even the share in space was adjusted.

It occurred to me that, aside from the difficulty in the process behind constructing this house, there would be a lot of problems after beyond occupation, such as maintenance and cleaning as they don’t have a caretaker. However, MoYeoGa’s residents said that there is no difficulty in tackling the cleaning and fixing as and when necessary. It felt like a natural and open process, of note particularly when the construction site manager who visited with me conversed with the residents on details of the building. Showing a book about community life to me, one of the interviewed residents revealed that the merits of community described in the book seemed exaggerated at first, but now it had come to be experienced as a reality. Someone told me about a noise complaint that had arisen regarding a resident who plays the drums. However, it had become acceptable once they were living everyday

face to face, in the same space. MoYeoGa’s architect has managed to put two contrasting ideas in one project: to have one’s own space and to live together. The opinions of the families and individuals were reflected in the design and a natural network has found realization in their efforts. As a result, people are creating a community, and have become gradually accepting of each other. To create a new type of multifamily housing different from the existing apartment houses, architects must focus on the relationship between the exclusive area and non-exclusive one. Here, they blur the boundary between the two areas and insert intermediate or transitional spaces. They adjust the closing of the exclusive area itself or alleviate it at various connection points. They have also planned a special meeting space. The focus is on how much remains closed or open, so that people can

A House for

Cohabitation

Lim Sunghun
professor, Tongmyong University