House of Slowness (2024 Excellence Award)

Photo: ⓒ 김용수, 스튜디오 뮤트

Set in a typical residential neighborhood, the site was constrained by limited views and natural light due to taller buildings to the north and the terrain. The former senior center, converted from a house, consisted of closed-off rooms as segregated as the conventional distance between men and women. These memories of enclosed rooms are reorganized here. Independent rooms float between window-gaps that face inward. Various window-gaps create distances between rooms, mediating relationships and carving paths for light and sight.

As one moves through the space, the awareness of boundaries wavers, and one's steps slow down. Changing scenes of daily life invite eye contact and unfold diverse stories. The window-gaps, responding to light that diffuses along recessed surfaces, regulate excessive light from any single direction while orchestrating the interplay of light, wind, and lines of sight—becoming devices of slowness that modulate the occupant's movement.