Korean Mid-Century, in an Old Villa

"Form follows function."

Written in 1896 by Louis Sullivan, mentor to Frank Lloyd Wright, this line reads almost like a manifesto for mid-century modern. Mid-century modern is a union of form and function, with every ornament beyond function stripped away.

A 30-year-old, 18-pyeong (about 60㎡) villa-style apartment. Two rooms plus a bathroom, rear veranda, and utility room - function was packed tight into a small footprint. Knocking down walls for openness was never going to work here. So the approach went the other way. Function was broken down into smaller pieces. The apartment ended up feeling larger.

The L-shaped kitchen was straightened into a single line. The refrigerator spot on the kitchen’s front wall was inefficient. Instead, the refrigerator was placed in an L, and a partition went up to cover the side panel it exposed toward the living room. That partition, born out of a functional constraint, became an art wall.

The art wall was painted teal. Mid-century design uses a lot of color, and there’s a reason for it: color is the most effective way to make point, line, and plane, the most basic elements of form, read spatially. It’s a design for stripping ornament away. Teal was chosen specifically for a subtle Korean sensibility.

A mid-door was needed because of the cat. An arch went in - a curve amid all the straight lines. But the vague, trend-driven arch look had to be avoided, so the door was split in two and the arch split with it. Each half held a panel of ribbed glass, a detail common in old Korean houses. Opening both door panels creates a gap between them - another technique borrowed from traditional Korean homes. The single mid-door separates the entryway from the bathroom, giving the living room privacy.

A round table for four sits at the center of the living room; the sofa faces the whole space from the window. Three zones emerged in the small footprint: kitchen, table, and sofa. In the bedroom, a curtain hung from a pipe rail replaced a built-in wardrobe. The gathered fabric filled one wall, and it cut costs too.

The partition went up to hide the refrigerator. It became an art wall. The mid-door went in to close off the entry. It became a classic ornament. The curtain was hung to hide the wardrobe. The folds gave it volume. Every one of these was a functional decision. And they look good.

Moved in on jeonse, left with key money for the fixtures. 100,000 views on Ohouse, 50,000 on Danggeun Market’s real estate section.

So design follows function. But only once the function is properly built.

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