Housing Experiments on the Threshold: Cube House | Unsangdong Architects
Unsangdong Architects
written by
Kim Bongkyun
photographed by
Namgoong Sun (unless otherwise indicated)
materials provided by
Unsangdong Architects
edited by
Kim Bokyoung
SPACE February 2026 (No. 699)
Spatial Density and Psychological Experimentation that Recalibrates Emotional Life
As is the case for many urban families, this household had lived in apartments for a long time. The densely organised systems of the city offered convenience, yet they restricted ‘one’s own life’, and inter-floor noise, intrusive views, and encounters with strangers gradually became sources of discomfort. The design began with an awareness of this discomfort. What the family desired was not an ostentatious architectural statement, but a house in which their emotions could comfortably reside––one that would block external interference while allowing family members to connect within its spaces. To this end, the project experiments with an architecture that calibrates the flow of life with a depth of emotion, translating an emotional structure into spatial form.
This house does not pursue formal experimentation, but seeks to explore psychological depth. At the centre of the 3 × 3 modular system is a courtyard. The nine cells interlock to form an organic order, and the courtyard functions not as a simple daylighting device but as an inner core where family can lodge their emotions. Though each...
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Architect
Unsangdong Architects (Jang Yoongyoo, Shin Changh
Design team
Kim Bongkyun, Lim Sohyeon, Lee Kyeongmin, Lim Dae
Location
Geoyeo-dong, Songpa-gu, Seoul, Korea
Programme
single house
Site area
286.3m²
Building area
139.93m²
Gross floor area
196.01m²
Building scope
2F
Parking
2
Height
9m
Building to land ratio
48.87%
Floor area ratio
68.46%
Structure
RC
Exterior finishing
concrete block, colour coated steel sheet
Interior finishing
ceramic tile, water paint
Structural engineer
The One Structural Eng.
Electrical engineer
HYEOBIN ELECTRICAL DESIGN Co., Ltd.
Construction
RIAN Construction
Design period
Aug. 2021 – Aug. 2022
Construction period
Oct. 2022 – May 2023
Client
Yoo Jiheon
Jang Yoongyoo
Jang Yoongyoo is a progressive architect who investigates architectural phenomena and believes that a physical reality originates from architectural concepts. After graduating from Seoul National University’s Department of Architecture and its Graduate School, he founded the Jang Yoongyoo Architectural Experiment Atelier, which later evolved into Unsangdong Architects. His practice focuses on an architecture that responds to the changing and dynamic conditions of a new era. Jang has been awarded the Korean Architecture Award, the Seoul Architecture Award, and the Korea Institute of Architects (KIA) Award, and has gained international acclaim through awards and features in prominent international media outlets. He is currently a Professor at the College of Architecture, Kookmin University.
Shin Changhoon
Shin Changhoon graduated from the Department of Architectural Engineering at Yeungnam University and the Graduate School of Architecture at the University of Seoul. He co-founded Unsangdong Architects with Jang Yoongyoo to pursue and realise experimental and conceptual architecture. He has dedicated himself to archiving and promoting Korean architecture through his leadership of platforms such as ‘Space Coordinator’ and ‘Architecture Sympathy’. Having served as a Seoul Public Architect, he currently acts as the General Architect of Suseong-gu and the Vice Chair of the Suseong International Biennale. His broader contributions to public architectural culture include his tenure as Chair of the Young Architects Committee of the KIA. He is currently an Adjunct Professor at the University of Seoul.
