Hanok Apartments and Jutaek?

by Robert Koehler on March 23, 2009

The Korea Housing Development Corporation is working on hanok designs for apartments and jutaek that it plans to try out within the year.

UPDATE: More on that.

{ 20 comments… read them below or add one }

1 eaglenovan March 23, 2009 at 2:17 pm: Here’s a suggestion – why don’t they make something that doesn’t look like Poland in 1960 ?
2 Robert Koehler March 23, 2009 at 2:21 pm: I think that’s the whole point of the project.
3 Linkd March 23, 2009 at 2:32 pm: I like it. Furniture is so over-rated.
4 Jewook March 23, 2009 at 4:00 pm: It might be ok for seniors over 60 who have lived in hanoks, but for younger people blah. It would be be nice if we could escape from square shaped apartments, just changing the interior doesn’t make it less boring.
5 gbnhj March 23, 2009 at 4:03 pm: I think it’s attractive.
6 ZenKimchi March 23, 2009 at 7:00 pm: I hope this is a sign of things to come.
7 captbbq March 23, 2009 at 7:18 pm: I want one.
8 sanshinseon March 23, 2009 at 8:42 pm: I’d rent one… maybe even buy.
9 The Goat March 23, 2009 at 10:50 pm: Pretty damn cool. I hope this is a sign of things to come.
10 The Goat March 23, 2009 at 10:51 pm: oh crap….did not even read the comments and I repeated ZenKimchi’s sentiments.

Despite that, I still hope the same.
11 globalvillageidiot March 23, 2009 at 11:03 pm: The designs look really good. They sure beat the largely boring apartment designs out there.
12 seokso March 23, 2009 at 11:30 pm: Nice interiors and a nice idea, but I’d prefer it if they didn’t have the fake eaves over the faux courtyard. If they can balance the modern amenities and traditional styling well then I think it could be an excellent idea.
13 WangKon936 March 24, 2009 at 2:22 am: My maternal aunt and her husband live in a hanok in a ‘burb of Seoul. I looks like it was built in the 20′s.

When I visited them in 2006, they offered to put me up in a hotel because they thought that this “spoiled” American cousin would think disparagingly of their hanok. Not the case at all! I thought it was cool. But… being the “spoiled” American, I wouldn’t want to live long-term in a hanok…
14 eaglenovan March 24, 2009 at 5:25 am: Seoul really does need some nice apts. But I would be concerned, based on how little is done to maintain the outside of buildings, it would just look like everything else – trashy.
Koreans seem to take no pride in outside things .. They do not seem to feel a connection to the outside.
Look at the amount of trash on the streets. This city could look a lot nicer if people were involved.
15 virtual wonderer March 24, 2009 at 6:10 am: It looks beautiful, but i wonder if it’ll be as uncomfortable as regular han-ok…
16 mateomiguel March 24, 2009 at 9:30 am: I really like this low-rise apartment idea, and the traditional roofs on the apartments giving them some character, and also the hanok-y interiors. This is what I hope Korean modern architecture would look like.

But now most apartment complexes look like gravestones and the houses look like laboratories, all white with harsh lighting.

When I was in Fukuoka the last time for a visa run I stopped by an art gallery. They had a very tall composite photograph, which was all of the families in a normal Korean APT, taken in their living rooms. The photos were arranged according to the position of the apartment in the complex, and of course it was a tower of white boxes. Each family was distressingly similar and their houses were almost identical. It looked so… borg-like. That art installation really drove home the point of Korea for me.

But this stuff, this is just cool! I hope it becomes a trend and these apartments spring up all over Seoul, replacing the horrible graveyard Apts.
17 R. Elgin March 24, 2009 at 2:06 pm: IMHO, that is one of the worst aspects of the “graveyard” apartment complex “mate”, being that a large chunk of space is effectively sterilized, resulting in a very psychologically depressing effect upon those that interact with that space. No real planning towards creating a social environment that invites people goes on. Somebody simply takes Photoshop and puts in really green grass and trees that simply do not exist (for the advertising) and concrete gets poured.

These ideas at least make sense culturally and if the same concern towards the living environment is shown, then living in Seoul will get better for everyone. If I were to spend a mil, then I want something that helps my mind and my body rather than a hi-rise cubical next to a bus terminal or surrounded with kilometers of grey concrete, dotted with take-out pizza shops and realtor offices.
18 mateomiguel March 24, 2009 at 3:43 pm: You’re talking about Gangbyeon aren’t you?
19 michael March 24, 2009 at 4:53 pm: Yeas, it’s an improvement design-wise, but I agree with R. Elgin. Mixed-use complexes with plenty of greenery would go a long way toward easing the depressing blandness of Seoul.
20 R. Elgin March 24, 2009 at 11:19 pm: “mate” I was talking about almost every large development in Korea that attempts to build up some kind of neighborhood to replace what was torn down or non-existent. So many of these places I flow through like this are like a backdrop to a suicide they are such an existentially painful place to experience.

I thought the government was trying to *prevent* suicide, not encourage it.

If I could find an apartment like those depicted above, I would be tempted to buy one too — depending upon the neighborhood.