Project: Busan Times
Architects: Moon Hoon
Location: Busan, South Korea
Area: 1,248 sq ft
Photographs by: Shin Kyungsub
Busan Times by Moon Hoon
The Busan Times residence is a contemporary project by Moon Hoon in the South Korean port city of Busan. This 1,250 sq ft, four-story house closely resembles a perched owl which takes on a defensive and protective appearance. It was designed for a client who works in the security industry so carefully positioned apertures were created that provide outward views while ensuring residential privacy at the same time. But this house isn’t all that serious as it might appear on the first look. The client requested a family house which will also include a series of fun spaces for his young child.
From the architects: “Although I am afraid that if I call it the owl, it will continue going by this nickname and it will be regarded within this context, I would nevertheless like to call it the owl. If you look at the building from the roadside, you may associate the shape formed by the angles of the setback regulation that has now been abolished with big head and two eyes.
Amazingly, the building looks exactly like an owl when you see from the rear side of the building after passing through a walkway. The staircase is a wing and the windows of a child’s room are the eyes within a head. Does it only apply to the architect? In addition, considering that the client is working in the security industry, which makes him stay up all night with glaring eyes, the house really looks like an owl.”
“Sometimes, admirers of my paintings commission me for an architectural project. This is the case again. I, as an architect, am greatly pleased to have them as my clients because they usually have very strong personalities and an open-minded taste for new things. In addition, many of them are young people who want a special space for their children, and this helps in the creation of a house full of quirks and fun. The view of the night sky can be seen through a small circular skylight from the bed in the child’s room, and the hole in the floor leads to a low playing space that is not included in the building coverage or total floor area. Although I designed it imagining a child climbing down a pipe through the opening like a firefighter, I had to give it up as the client and their parents became concerned at the time of completion.”
