Golden Print [EN]: Chapter 249

Townhouse

In the past, Cheongdam-dong, a wealthy part of Seoul, was known for its grand villas, not tall apartment buildings.

Especially the area stretching from the south side of Yeongdong Bridge to Seongsu Bridge.

Across the wide Han River, facing the Seongsu district, this neighborhood was filled with beautiful villas and large houses, each standing alone.

There were several reasons for this, but one was how the land was used.

Apartments are usually built in ‘Type 3 Residential Zones.’ But this area was ‘Type 2.’ Type 2 zones had much stricter building rules. This made it harder to build tall apartment buildings here.

Type 2 areas had limits on building height, around 15 stories. The floor area ratio was also lower than in Type 3 areas, about 200 percent.

This meant that on the same size land, the total floor space could be 20-30% less than in a Type 3 area.

So, when Gangnam was first developed and apartments were built, this less attractive area wasn’t developed as much.

It was less important compared to Type 3 areas.

Construction companies might not have wanted to buy land and remove the people already living there.

Back then, Gangnam wasn’t the wealthy symbol it is today. It was mostly rice paddies and fields.

Of course, that’s not the case anymore.

The villa village in Cheongdam-dong, with its land divided among individual owners, was now seen as a goldmine if developed well.

The floor area ratio was still low because it was a Type 2 area, but the location was so good that it made up for it.

If they built the best homes for the wealthy, they could set a high price that people would pay.

For two months, Woojin had been consumed by this project. He wanted to create not just a house, but a masterpiece, something that would be both beautiful and incredibly valuable. He felt a thrill of anticipation as he prepared to show his ideas.

“Right, about that design…” Im Jungwoo leaned forward, a hint of impatience in his voice, even after the polite small talk. “When can I finally see it?”

Woojin smiled, a small, knowing smile. “Funny you should ask, President Im. I was just about to show you.”

Im Jungwoo chuckled, a sound that didn’t quite reach his eyes. “To be honest, CEO Seo, I’ve been so excited about your ideas, I barely slept a wink last night!”

Woojin just smiled again, saying nothing, and reached for his iPad. He could feel Im Jungwoo’s gaze sharpen with anticipation.

Im Jungwoo looked interested when he saw the iPad.

At design meetings, he’d never seen anyone use a tablet instead of paper or a laptop.

It was 2012, when smart devices were becoming popular, but most of the designers working with Dajin Construction were about Im Jungwoo’s age.

Maybe that was why.

Click-

Woojin put the iPad on a stand and spoke to Im Jungwoo.

“When we talked on the phone, didn’t we say we wanted this project to feel like a luxury mansion in the city?”

Im Jungwoo nodded. “A luxury mansion in the city. We also talked about making it feel like a townhouse.”

Im Jungwoo was looking at Woojin with excitement.

He seemed eager to hear Woojin’s ideas.

Woojin spoke again.

“That’s right. That’s what we discussed, and I used that to create the first design concept.”

Woojin touched the iPad screen a few times, and it went dark for a moment.

Then-

“Oh!”

Im Jungwoo exclaimed without thinking.

Woojin’s iPad showed a concept drawing.

Even though it was just a concept, it was high quality.

The image looked almost like a photograph.

It was so beautiful that it seemed impossible to build.

Even though it was clearly a residential area in Gangnam, with the Han River and Olympic 대로 in the background.

Woojin’s drawing created a cozy and peaceful feeling, like a luxury resort.

While Jungwoo stared at the screen, Woojin began to explain.

The meaning of ‘Townhouse’ can be different things.

But in short, it’s a group of houses with a few floors that share a garden.

It’s like a cluster of houses connected to each other.

The townhouse style comes from the long, narrow houses in medieval Europe. It became a type of housing as cities became more crowded.

“But over time, ‘townhouse’ came to mean a mansion that rich Europeans had in the city. They had a country house, but they also needed a place to live in the capital.”

“Interesting.”

“The modern idea of a townhouse probably started in the United States after 1900. Even today, residential areas in the US are often called townhouses.”

Jungwoo didn’t know why Woojin was explaining the history of townhouses, but he listened because it was interesting.

Woojin continued.

“And as you know, townhouses used to be popular in Korea, right?”

Jungwoo nodded.

“That’s right. But now they’re pretty much gone.”

When he said ‘used to be,’ he meant less than 10 years ago, around 2012.

After the real estate market crashed in 2007, townhouses started to decline.

The reason was simple.

The townhouses in Korea were usually large and luxurious, over 50 to 60 pyeong in size.

These large townhouses were not practical, harder to sell than apartments, and more like luxury items.

Even in the future Woojin imagined.

Even after 2015, when the real estate market recovered, people avoided townhouses.

People wanted to live close to work and valued convenience above all else.

Townhouses usually had to be built in the suburbs.

Land in Seoul was too expensive to build townhouses, which take up a lot of space for each household.

Woojin knew all about these problems with townhouses.

So why was he bringing it up?

“Why did you choose the ‘townhouse’ concept for this high-end brand?”

Im Jungwoo had first mentioned the idea of a ‘townhouse,’ so Woojin asked him.

Jungwoo replied calmly.

“Well, I thought it would be great if we could bring the charm of the countryside to the busy city of Seoul. That would be the ultimate luxury.”

Woojin nodded.

“That’s right. I also thought that Cheongdam-dong’s great location would make up for the downsides of townhouses.”

“But why are you telling me this?”

Jungwoo tilted his head, and Woojin spoke again.

“Because my design is based on these ideas.”

“…?”

Woojin continued, seeing Jungwoo’s confused expression.

“For this brand to succeed, we need to focus on the good things about the ‘townhouse’ style.”

“Good things…”

“We need to remove or fix the bad things, and make the good things even better for modern people.”

Woojin paused, then touched the iPad screen and moved to the next image.

“I especially focused on two key ideas.”

Various images appeared on the screen.

“The two ideas are ‘Sharing’ and ‘Privacy’.”

Woojin pointed to the word ‘Sharing’ at the top of the screen.

One of the best things about a townhouse is that it can share a large, beautiful garden.

Everyone dreams of ‘a house with a garden’.

People who have lived in apartments for a long time long for an open garden, but in a city where land is expensive, a garden seems impossible.

Woojin thought that the best thing about a townhouse was that it made the idea of a garden possible through ‘sharing’.

Even a luxury house doesn’t always have a large garden. But if several households share a garden, it can be large and beautiful.

That’s why Woojin chose ‘Sharing’ as the first key idea.

“Are you familiar with the idea of an apartment ‘community center’?”

Jungwoo replied.

“Hmm. I think I’ve heard of it…”

“It’s a new idea in new apartments, where residents can share facilities.”

“Ah.”

“It’s a way to improve the ‘sharing’ of public facilities that townhouses have, making it even better in new apartments.”

Jungwoo had been in the business for a long time, but he hadn’t worked in the field for a while.

Now he was just the owner and investor.

So he found these ideas interesting.

“Maybe the fact that new apartment complexes put all the parking underground and focus on landscaping is similar to these shared gardens.”

Woojin paused, then continued.

“But there’s one thing that goes against the idea of Sharing, and that’s ‘Privacy’.”

This was why Woojin brought up these two ideas.

We need to make the most of the land through ‘sharing’ to make the residential area convenient.

But we also need to make sure each household has as much ‘privacy’ as possible. That’s the key to this project.

Im Jungwoo now understood what Woojin was saying and waited for his next words with even more interest.

Golden Print