Wonderful Wooman / IDR Architects

Architects: IDR Architects
Area: 314 m²
Year: 2022
Photographs: Rohspace
Lead Architects: Borim Jun, Seunghwan Lee
Category: Houses
Design Team: Borim Jun, Seunghwan Lee
Engineering & Consulting > Structural: Yoon Structure
Engineering & Consulting > Mechanical: JUSUNG ENG
Engineering & Consulting > Electrical: DK Electrical Engineering & Consulting
City: Suwon-si
Country: South Korea

Wonderful Uman, a mixed-use residential building designed by IDR Architects in Suwon, South Korea, has subtly redefined its low-rise neighborhood through context-sensitive design and programmatic flexibility. Completed on a compact 155-square-meter plot near Suwon World Cup Stadium, the project integrates with the typology of 1970s red-brick homes while offering updated spatial configurations. The building includes two commercial units on the lower levels and a single-family residence above, culminating in a private indoor swimming pool on the top floor. Through strategic materiality—lighter-toned red bricks, tiled overflow gutters, and clerestory glazing—the architecture maintains continuity with its surroundings while asserting a quiet distinctiveness. The hybrid layout accommodates both private and public functions, reflecting the adaptive, mixed character of the urban fabric.

In the 1970s, as apartment housing grew dominant across Korea, a quieter residential typology emerged: modest, three-story brick homes constructed by small-scale contractors. With red bricks and white railings, these houses continue to shape the identity of many low-rise neighborhoods. Wonderful Uman responds to this context by integrating into its surroundings rather than overwriting them. Its red-toned brick façade is slightly lighter than those of neighboring buildings—just enough to assert a subtle presence while maintaining visual harmony with the streetscape.

Positioned near Suwon World Cup Stadium, Wonderful Uman is a compact, four-story mixed-use building developed on a 155-square-meter plot. The first two floors are designed as flexible commercial spaces, while the upper levels accommodate a single-family residence. This hybrid program aligns with the surrounding urban context, where zoning regulations are more fluid than in strictly planned districts, allowing for a responsive and adaptive design approach.

Two separate entrances on the main façade permit the commercial units to operate either independently or together. Foldable doors and layered glazing on the northeast side provide a porous street interface, creating an active frontage when open and a rhythmic elevation when closed. The residential portion is accessible either by interior stairs from the second floor or through a private elevator on the rear side of the building. This configuration enables a balance between privacy and multi-functionality, supporting diverse future uses.

A private indoor swimming pool on the top floor defines the project and gives it its name—Wonderful Uman, a play on the Korean word for pool. Measuring 2 by 10 meters, the pool is set beneath a steep gabled roof, with clerestory windows and high ceilings generating a bright, enclosed retreat above the city. The concrete pool basin doubles as a structural beam along the building’s primary axis, contributing to its integrity. Layered lighting—indirect ceiling illumination and underwater fixtures—enables various lighting atmospheres, particularly at night.

A distinct detail lies in the design of the overflow gutter. Rather than using a conventional metal grate, the architects employed the same tile used for the pool floor. Water drains through narrow joints, combining performance with visual simplicity. Wonderful Uman is a carefully considered urban infill—contextual in form, flexible in use, and unexpected in experience.