Marea Pool Villa
Through the gap, the inside is only briefly seen. The light gray concrete wall slightly inclined surrounds the roof and the walls like a tent. The wall extends into the fence, and the courtyard view is completely closed from the outside. ‘Freedom of being secluded’, the house naturally resolves the two contrary concepts, suggesting ‘play’ and ‘rest’.
The house is divided into two parts. Two masses of type ‘ㄴ’ and ‘ㄱ’ are seated facing each other as if they are aligning their mouths with each other, and the gap between them is marked by a road. It is a blank space that divides and connects the two masses. The two masses are clear and transparently open towards the path between them. No matter where you are in the house, your gaze opens and expands to the swimming pool, the yard, and the house on the other side. In particular, the swimming pool is like a glass box, so you can enjoy natural light in broad daylight while blocking the wind from outside. You can enjoy swimming while making eye contact with the courtyard as if it were an external space, and you can see the swimming pool from the courtyard as if it were a visual space.
As a small single-family stay in a whole building may be burdensome for customers, the house was divided into two. Even in case two families stay together, privacy is secured, by separating bedrooms and bathrooms at a distance. The yard spreads out at the end of the road that separates the two houses. It is an extremely simple appearance, with no boundaries between the ornamental garden and the playground. A single tree and unknown grasses naturally harmonize, and there is only a small hill in the middle of the yard and a sandy field in the middle. A simply flat lawn is more meaningful as a place of scenery than play. It seems that the architect hoped that the courtyard or the vacant lot in front of the house would be an opportunity for young children to actively participate in the hills and sandy fields.
Children living in apartments are bound to have a lack of play in the living space.
The sight and the hearing of the plants swaying in the wind, the touch of the soil, the experience of stomping on and off the hilly soil and grass, and the smell of the fresh air carried in the breeze. The parents watching their children play. The yard provides ample satisfaction for all these occasions.
Usually children play in the hilly yard rather than in the swimming pool until their check-out time. Not a few guests review that as long as there simply are soil and hills children can create and play any game on their own.
From floors, to walls, ceilings, furnishings, fixtures and materiality, each floor presents its own dialect of experiences, tailored to the style of merchandise and the demographic of shoppers.
On the second floor, the women’s high-end fashion department is conceived as a sculpture garden. With an emphasis on textures and sculptural tonality, the floor offers a gallery-like space in which to meander and explore. Use of gentle, indirect lighting accentuates fluid forms to radiate an ethereal quality. Custom hanging fixtures elevate the feeling of lightness while providing a cohesive language for curated brands. A subdued color palette complements layers of reflectivity and translucency.
In contrast, the third floor is a ‘provocative wilderness.’ Bold sculptural elements sit amidst a creative backdrop of deep blue hanging systems and an aggressive materiality: contrasting natural and man-made materials, unfinished ceilings, vacuum-formed sculptural walls and a simple color palette.
In the words of co-founder Paul Filek: “This project is a celebration of many ingredients from retail and technology innovation to exceptional design and architecture each contributing to a memorable experience.”
Project: Marea Pool Villa / Location: Gyeongju-si, Korea / Architects: Rieuldorang Architect Office / Use: house / Site area: 655m² / Bldg. area: 120.1m² / gross floor area: 118.91m² / Gross floor ratio: 18.33% / Gross floor ratio: 18.15% / Bldg. scale: 1 floor above ground / Bldg. height: 4.2m / Structure: reinforced concrete / Completion: 2020 / Photograph: ⓒJunhwan Yoon (courtesy of the architect)