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Architects: Atelier ITCH
- Area: 48 m²
- Year: 2024
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Photographs:Joel Moritz
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Lead Architects: Jinwook Jung, Yourim Lee
Text description provided by the architects. Jocheon is a small village on the northeastern coast of Jeju. It is a seaside village known as a great place to see the sunrise every day. To the north is the blue sea of Jocheon, and freshwater springs from the ground near the beach. Jocheon has been a clean and abundant village with clean spring water, which was used by the people for washing and drinking before the waterworks were installed. This plot of land, silently watching over the sea, is about 18 square meters in size and is on the boundary between the beach of Jocheon and the freshwater springs.
This was a place for the travelers to begin and end their day. So what did it have to offer? We focused on the element of ‘water,’ as harbored by the beach of Jocheon. We wanted the most daily element to give the most non-daily experience in this space. ‘Taking a bath’ is a very simple and daily action, yet a powerful ritual of rearranging one’s mind and relieving the physical and mental fatigue. The Chinese character for bath is 浴 (Yok).
It represents the pouring water and means to clean the wastes with the force of water flowing downwards. We planned this space to be a place for relaxing and recharging, focusing on the acts of washing and wiping in a space filled with various forms of water such as pouring water, gushing water, still water, gazing water, and steam.
The Jocheon Yokjang is a small bath place consisting of 3 floors that are about 15 square meters each. The building was designed to be within 50 square meters without a parking area so that the yard can be used more widely, and it is a private space for only 2 people. The 3rd floor is a bathing space with an ocean view and various washing experiences. The 2nd floor is the bedroom, and the 1st floor is the kitchen. The vertical concrete building is only open on the sides that come in contact with nature.
Only the surfaces that accept the ocean view and light are open, and all other surfaces are completely shut from the outer world. The concrete walls have wood grain patterns that hold the movement of light. Along the basalt wall is the entrance path that opens into the garden, and through the garden is the inside of the house. The entrance path is long enough to heighten the immersion in the space, and the unpredictable changes of the space diversify the experience.
