Little Nests House / Architecture Lab Boum

Architects: Architecture Lab Boum
Area: 300 m²
Year: 2023
Photographs: Joel Moritz
Lead Architects: You Hong Kim
Lead Team: Da In Chae
Design Team: Ye Eun Kim
County: Yangpyeong
Country: South Korea

Little Nests House residential project designed by Architecture Lab Boum adapts to a west-facing village site bordered by a concrete retaining wall and accessed by a narrow path near Seojong Middle School, creating a secluded and intimate setting. The design responds to the client’s requests, including a west-facing terrace on the second floor for river views and the absence of exterior lighting, which led to the elimination of north-facing windows. Visitors enter through a dim brick porch and arrive at a bright courtyard framed by a 7.7-meter-wide veranda with 3.2-meter-deep eaves. To ensure privacy from elevated eastern neighbors, a wall was designed not only as a screen but as an integrated element containing a terrace for the daughters to step outside, see their mother in the courtyard, and look toward the river. The curved wall transitions from floor to ceiling, incorporating a staircase, a high window for daylight, and a sheltered passage to the terrace. This form defines a nest-like space shaped by light, material, and routine, reflecting the family’s daily life.

Little nests house / architecture lab boum

The village faces west, where the river moves slowly, gently enclosing the quiet atmosphere of the small town. The site becomes visible along a concealed path beside Seojong Middle School, evoking the sense of entering another world. To the southwest, the land is bordered by a concrete retaining wall that has been covered with grass for over two decades.

During the first meeting, the client remarked, “I think I can see the river from the second floor. Please make a terrace for the children’s room on the west side of the second floor.” They also expressed a desire for the house to remain dark at night, stating, “I don’t want lights in the yard, and I don’t want lights from my neighbors to the north.” In response to these requests, windows were intentionally omitted from the north side. After passing through a dim porch constructed with rough-split bricks and opening the front door, one is met with a bright atmosphere and a green courtyard, visible through a 7.7-meter-wide veranda featuring eaves that extend 3.2 meters deep.

The client asked, “And can we build a wall that shields the yard from view? The neighbors on the east side are higher than ours.” Since the neighboring house faces south, a privacy solution was necessary. The architect envisioned a wall that would go beyond serving as a barrier, functioning instead as an integrated and purposeful architectural element. The terrace within this wall was intended to offer a space where the children could step outside and unwind. The four daughters, reminiscent of the sisters in Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women—a story that begins with the line “Christmas won’t be Christmas without any presents” (though in their case, the father returns home early, unlike the novel’s father away at war)—would be able to see their mother in the courtyard at any moment and look out toward the river from this elevated terrace.

The client’s request transformed the wall into more than a simple barrier, turning it into a transitional element that merges the floor and wall, rising in the form of an elliptical curve. This curve appears in the ceiling of the living room and continues as a raised wall on the terrace. The volume created by this curve contains a staircase, a high window that brings in ample natural light, and a sheltered area leading to the terrace. In the future, the daughters will sit in this “little nest”-like space, resting against the gently curved brick surface as they enjoy the sunlight.