Located on the Korean island of Jeju – famous as a vacation spot – this guest house designed by Seoul-based practice Moon Hoon features a viewing platform that provides stunning views of surrounding landscape. The landscape is dominated by halla mountain in the center and basalt rocks by the sea. The site is located just five minute walk from a famous tourist site called Yongdoam(dragon’s head), which is a basalt formation that looks like a dragon’s head. The story and appearance generated by basalt Yongduam became a point of departure for the new design.
The program requested by the client and the budget sculpted a simple and dense block of function with a small atrium in the middle carrying on the porosity concept for ventilation and light purpose for guest house design. Looking from the road, left is the guest house and the right is the coffee shop and the house. The south east was given to the house for better everyday living conditions.
The 1st floors are angled because even though the footprint is small the volumetric experience is of spatial expansion. It is built to the maximum, so the angle and the extra volume is a bonus. The entrance to the guest house is at the rear, providing a walking experience and buffering from the busy traffic. The small lobby is greeted by an atrium of 3 floor depth. It provides a calm well of light gives some space of breath in otherwise a tight space composition. The rooms in the 1st floor are small but have private bathrooms.
Rooms in the 2nd and 3rd floors have communal bathrooms with a one 5 person family rooms in each. The communal Kitchen and breakfast room has double height space, visually connected to the library on the third floor. The library leads to an open red painted terrace above the house. The Outdoor stairs can function as cinema and music hall.
The Dragon head viewing platform is raised one floor up from the outdoor terrace to provide a good view of the sea and the mountain. The leading narrow stair can bring about an experience of ascending and anticipation. From the viewing platform, you can also checkout the planes coming in to land at jeju international airport which is only five minutes away.
all images © NAM GOONG SUN