Many are astonished by the Park family’s famous home in the award-winning 2019 film Parasite. The fictitious starchitect who designed the house is Architect Namgoong Hyeonja. In fact, it is a work of art by Lee Ha-jun, the film’s production designer, and the brainchild of Bong Joon-ho, the filmmaker.
With unexpected storylines, the film offers an insightful look at social divides. Parasite examines the relativity of class and how disparities between the top, medium, and lower classes often lead to people at the bottom of the scale trying to tread on one another in an attempt to advance in society.
What Is Parasite And Architect Namgoong About?
The movie is the tale of the Kims, an impoverished family. They skillfully positioned themselves in the Parks’ service and care. The Parks are an extravagantly rich family that for many years harbored an unknown stranger in their basement.
Along with the Kims, it is possible to see the basement inhabitants as parasitic. Both families depend on the Parks to provide them with food, housing, and clothes. Additionally, they enter their homes fraudulently and compete with one another fiercely.
The story demonstrates how the working class is forced to compete for crumbs, while families like the Parks enjoy a luxurious existence fueled by the labor of many people below them.
The magnificent house in which the families resided was created by the established but fictional architect Namgoong.
The Park home was conceived as a series of stages for movie production. A large portion contains the steps from the kitchen to the basement, the hidden tunnel below, and the bunker deeper below, all of which contribute to the descending illusion. A pivotal scene in Parasite is the Park’s living room, which has a long, glass wall that overlooks a garden that serves as the film’s finale.
The movie is deserving of every Academy Award nomination. Parasite took home four awards, including Best Original Screenplay, Best International Film, Best Director, and Best Picture.
The House Designed By Architect Namgoong
While the house design by Architect Namgoong has a predetermined layout based on the plot, the architecture and interior design are really amazing. The style of the home set is heavily influenced by modernism, with a flat roof, wide expanses of glass, and minimal interior furniture.
Given that we are mostly confined at home during this epidemic facing our own challenges in life, I thought it might be fitting that we return to this place and reflect on the architecture that shaped the story.
The following are some of the film’s design takeaways.
1. Beauty Of Minimalism
Architect Namgoong seems to take inspiration from minimalistic, contemporary houses with great space arrangements. Mr. Park’s home, both inside and out, exemplifies minimalism. It has clean lines, basic shapes, and clear space. While the finishes are rendered concrete, metal trims, and glass with accents of wood color tones. Visually, there are fewer superfluous elements, which gives it a refined and classy appearance. It gave the household an opulent image.
2. The Creative Play On Floor Levels
Stairs were prominent in the picture. And, although the filmmaker utilized stairs to depict the metaphor of socioeconomic classes – the division of the wealthy and the poor – steps were also used to divide areas into the Park family’s open-plan interiors. Take note of how the living room and kitchen areas are separated by a simple play on levels.
Though the film’s stairs were done elegantly, in actuality, attention should be given to Persons with Disabilities (PWD) by introducing subtle elevation adjustments, ramps, safety railings, or, if budget is not an issue, elevators.
3. Walls As Accents
Further inside the home, we see how well-thought-out the interior features are, as we notice fewer plain-looking walls. Who can forget the kitchen area’s full-height display cabinet? It is brimming with high-end tableware and tea sets. However, what set it apart from other walls was the fact that it was illuminated from top to bottom! It definitely emphasized the kitchen area. By contrast, the dark entrance to the basement contributed to the story’s mystery.
4. Maximizing Natural Light
When we think of bringing natural light into the home, we think of large windows. Orientation is critical if we want to optimize it. It’s fascinating to learn that this was taken into account while designing the set for the Park’s home. According to Lee, they chose the location deliberately and positioned the home to take advantage of the sun’s direction in order to get the ideal lighting for the scenarios.
This is also a factor to consider while creating areas for a home, as Architect Namgoong is likely to do. Windows are carefully positioned to provide the appropriate amount of light in a room. By increasing natural light, one’s reliance on energy for artificial lighting is reduced as well.
5. Architect Namgoong’s Open Space And Landscaping
According to director Bong, the architect Namgoong purposefully built the house’s first floor to maximize views of the garden, and we couldn’t agree more. The living room’s full-height glass functioned as the Family TV, allowing for an appreciation of the yard’s ever-changing weather and seasons.
Landscaping enhances the architecture in a distinct way. Additionally, it keeps the environment healthy. The combination of the house’s wide windows dissolves the boundary between inside and out.
6. Exploring High-Tech Innovations
The Park residence’s high-tech elements are immediately apparent upon Ki-Woo’s arrival on the entry steps. The video intercom, automated doors, garage doors, and sprinkler system are among these amenities. Technology undoubtedly provides consumers with more security and comfort. We may also notice the pendant lights on the stairs, which seemed to have motion detectors since they illuminated one by one as Mr. Park approached upwards. It was not automatic after all as revealed later on in the film.
7. Basements And Storage
The pantry and storage were placed in the basement to adhere to the minimalist idea. This is an effective architectural approach for concealing clutter in the main home. Basements are often portrayed as frightening places, but when the film first revealed it, it seemed to be a paradise for homemakers and housekeepers, complete with shelves, drawers, and a flexible room to contain large items.
8. Secret Bunkers By Architect Namgoong
When former housekeeper Moon-gwang (Jeong-eun Lee) discovers an entrance beneath the wood cabinets, the story darkens. This takes her to a hidden bunker where her husband has been living for four years. The architect seems to have built the home with this subterranean area in mind in case of North Korean assault or if creditors broke in.
According to Architect Namgoong’s perspective, the purpose of the hidden bunker is mostly for personal protection. After all, he was the first occupant. It is reasonable to infer that it was built to be bomb-proof. It is a habitable place, but only for a limited period. Humans will continue to require adequate sunshine and fresh air to maintain their health and well-being.
Architecture Of Inequality
Parasite most definitely earned all of its awards in the film business. The movie is revolutionary in its integration of social discourse and architectural consequences. The physical environment repeatedly demonstrates where individuals fit into the social order or if they really have a place at all.
Legacy of Architect Namgoong
Much has been written about the Parks’ spectacular home, which the film claims was built by renowned architect Namgoong Heonja. The room is so realistic that many filmgoers thought it was a genuine home, a wonder of architecture. It is, however, a collection of sets created by Lee Ha Jun, the film’s production designer. In terms of how the tale relates to our daily lives, I suppose we’ll never look at large homes with basements in the same way again.
