Collection by Kate Santos
Architect Spotlight: Byoung-soo Cho
South Korea is known for its innovations in technology. Seoul architect Byoung-soo Cho applies South Korea's technological innovation to architecture by experimenting with straight lines, negative space and uniting contrasting materials. Here we spotlight the Earth House, the Four Box House as well as the Concrete Box, all private residences of the minimalist architect.
Four Box House perches on a rugged mountain-side in northern Seoul’s Pyeongchandong district, making for spectacular views.
Architect Byoung-soo Cho and his wife, Eunsil Kim, value the privacy, and style,
that a concrete wall and recycled Indonesian teak facade provide.
Cho relaxes in the first-floor living room, where paintings by up-and-coming Germany-based Chinese artist Ruo Bing Chen play off a sofa and coffee table designed by the architect himself.
The courtyard offers a glimpse of nature from nearly every angle, including up.
A square hole in the ground and a concrete slab are all that demarcate Byoung Cho’s Earth House from the surrounding countryside.
Earth House is dedicated to Dong-joo Yoon, a Korean poet who died as a political prisoner in Japan during WWII.
Visitors enter through a narrow staircase, visible here as a slit to the right of the courtyard.