Ganghwa Island is located a short distance from Seoul. Although it is called an island, the distance between the island and mainland is narrower than width of Han River. 800 years ago, Goryeo Dynasty escaped the Mongol invasion on this island, and 150 years ago, first contact with Western modernity occurred at this place. Further back, the remains of Bronze Age dolmens are scattered in the mountains and fields. In other words, it is a place where the patterns of various times remain as vivid as the tattoos carved on the body. When you go to such a land, you have the illusion that you hear a strange sound from somewhere.

As you run along the Han River toward Ganghwa do Island, the island is as close as a lump of land just before its arrival from the continent to the land, as if it had been just chipped off the land. Thanks to this, we cross the very thin sea and arrive at Ganghwa Island. If you cross the bridge and drive a little, you will come to a neighborhood called Sundeok-ri. It is a name made up of the characters god 仙 and ginkgo 杏. Here and there, the walls that were built in the past are ambushed like the "soldiers of time" who have not been able to retreat, and the old ginkgo and zelkova trees are gathered together like a city wall. I haven't seen a ginkgo tree with a god-like appearance, but it seems to have remained only under the name of "spiritual ginkgo". Everything remains in the name. The connection between reality and such dreams is dependent on the imagination of the living beings who receive them.

A lady from Ganghwa Province came to our office. As usual, an architect's job begins when someone comes to visit him/her by chance, like a client who comes to Sherlock Holmes. Except we don't have any conspiracy, hatred nor mystery. Rather, they come with hope. A person filled with hope comes to us and lays a story on our desk. We listen to the story and dream together.

There’s a movie called "Dr. Parnassus' Imaginary Theater". The film is the legacy of the late actor Heath Ledger and stars Christopher Plummer, the cool father of the Sound of Music, and Tom Waits, an eccentric singer and actor. The story is about making people's dreams come true. In fact, dreams are extremely personal imaginations. However, the imagination is completely uncontrollable, like a few involuntary muscles in our body. And it's so honest that it's often embarrassing.

Architecture is, after all, a dream that people and the land dream together. The person who embodies that dream is the architect and Dr. Parnassus.

This client’s dream was to build a house on the land of her hometown that would contain her life. She had searched for a reliable architect and came to visit us. We had dived into the dream together.

The land of Ganghwa Island is very cold. Cold refers to temperature but also to atmosphere, and it's the atmosphere here. There is no stickiness. Neither is it dry. And while the mountains are sharp, they are not sharp enough to “cut a man”. In today's expression, it's a land that feels very 'cool'. You can get a rough idea of what kind of place it is.

We visited the land. There are mountains in front and mountains behind them. Seventy percent of the country's land is mountainous, and it is the land of ordinary landscape in Korea. A shallow stream flowed between the mountains, and the land on which the houses were to be built stretched left and right. It was as if the various layers were layered on top of each other.

With its wings, the house soars. Or they fold their wings and land on the ground.

The annex close to the mountains is residence. Looking from the front, the public sphere is on the left, and the private sector on the right. There is a guest room, a family room, a living room, and finally a bedroom on the first and second floors.

And in the center of the house, a triangle was erected. The space is a bathroom with a skylight, and a staircase runs around it. It's a small part, but it's an eye-catching element and also a space of connection. The roof is composed of horizontal and diagonal planes. Together with this vertical element, the whole composition gives dynamism.

This house with horizontal, vertical and diagonal planes, is very simple. Couples live here, and their children and grandchildren come to visit from time to time. The area on the right side of the staircase is a private area for the couple, the space for families and visitors is on the west side of the living room, and the owner, who usually works from home, has a work area in the living room, which is the center of the house. 

Looking from the road, the building in front is a café. A year after completion of the house, the client wanted to small shop to brew tea. We proposed a shape with its wings spread wide as if it were about to soar into the sky, resembling a small stream in front that winds gently and spins. When they agreed to build a new building according to the flow of the land, we found that the remaining land was thin and long. It's a small café of 80 square meters, but the inside feels cool because it is one single space. It was designed in the shape of two curves that meet the grain of the ground, and a square box with a skylight was inserted in the joining part. It is made of white walls and roof to contrast with the black brick shelled residence. Café is much smaller than house, but they soften the first impression of a house, contrasting with the sharp, straight wing form. The name of the café is 'Moaro', which means small stream in Spanish.

The two buildings were completed according to the long-standing pattern carved on the Ganghwa Island and the flow of the land facing the mountains. The two buildings have opposing shapes and colors, and the juxtaposition of strong and soft shapes is achieved. In between, the trail flows smoothly in a curve following the form of the house.

The choice of the architect is, of course, to read the grain of the ground and to sit/design a house that does not deviate from the grain. As we tried to escape from the constraints of the front and back, wings rose on both sides. The two wings spread out like they are about to fly, and the other two wings lands gently on the ground. Thus, the client's dream came true as a house with four wings.