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As Park Seongjae shared: “Our city is
becoming increasingly filled with economical-
ly efficient buildings. In the process, tradition-
al buildings were also indiscriminately reno-
vated, making it difficult to find their original
appearance. Our traditional buildings contain the
value of time. It should be easily accessible in our
daily lives, not just in museums. I think it is im-
portant to protect our roots in the rapidly chang-
ing urban environment.” In fact, the anthropol-
ogist Marc Augé gave the name non-place to the
escalating homogeneity of urban spaces. In
The other space of traditional hanok has non-places, history, identity, and human relation
a long stretch of seats along with the structure are not on offer. Non-places used to be relegated
of the old house, allowing customers to see the to the fringes of cities in retail parks or airports,
yard and the sky. This is the space where the or contained inside shopping malls. But they have
eyes would naturally stay outside of the room spread. Everywhere looks like everywhere else
by intentionally lowering the lighting level and, as a result, anywhere feels like nowhere in
inside. A method of indirect lighting was used particular.
as a whole for natural mood of the indoor The opposite of placelessness is place, and
spaces. In particular, the custom-made floor all that it implies — the resonances of history,
stand lamp designed by stof is adjustable to folklore, and environment; the qualities that
control the direction of light. The design was make a location deep, layered, and idiosyncratic.
inspired by traditional Korean candle holder Humans are storytelling creatures. If a place has
which the direction of emitted light varies been inhabited for long enough, the stories will
depending on the type of decor installed be- already be present, even if hidden. We need to
hind the candlesticks. uncover and resurface them, to excavate the
The yard was intentionally created to be meanings behind street names, to unearth figures
minimal, finished with stone from floor to wall. lost to obscurity, and to rediscover architecture
Hanok’s yard is a place where water gathers that has long since vanished. A return to vernac-
when it rains, so the floor has to be slanted. ular architecture — the built environment of the
To make a flat and empty yard, all the floor people, tailored by and for local culture and
drainage facilities were hidden and the deck conditions — is overdue. It can combat the place-
system was used to set the flat level of the lessness that empires and corporations have
stone, which allowed stof to connect indoor imposed. And Studio stof seems to be on the
and outdoor to the same finish and level. frontline of this movement in Seoul.

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