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From an elegant concrete house a farming couple approaching their eighties built beside a pear orchard in Yecheon, North Gyeongsang Province, to a former IT professional who reimagined an entire home after retirement with wabi-sabi sensibilities, EBS1’s ‘Architecture Exploration: Home’ profiles people who spared no expense making their later-life dwellings exactly as they wanted.
The EBS1 episode airing on the 19th, titled The Final House of Life: Built Without Holding Back, follows two couples who made bold choices to shape their final chapters. These homes are not modest retirement cottages; they are the realization of long-held visions for how to live well.
The first house belongs to an elderly couple in a village in Yecheon. After a lifetime of farming, they decided, as they approached their eighties, to build a new home on a scenic lot beside their pear orchard. Its resort-like exterior and heavy concrete massing stand out — a project that began with the wife’s simple wish to “live in a good house before I die.”
The husband, Jin-yun, and their four children rallied around Seong-ja, who had spent 40 years caring for in-laws, running the household, and working the farm. Their eldest daughter’s trip to an architecture office in Seoul helped kick-start the formal design process.
The structure contains 28 metric tons of rebar and concrete slabs up to 1.5 meters thick. The production team says the house was engineered to be so robust it “won’t collapse even after 100 years,” and the episode will reveal its impressive scale and sculptural presence. A sweeping wall of windows wraps the living room to maximize light and views, and high-end insulated window systems address the insulation problems common in older rural homes.
The family devoted their greatest care to the kitchen. The daughters shuttled between Yecheon and Seoul with their mother to select materials and furnishings, finishing the space with ceramic countertops and solid-wood storage for a roomy, functional kitchen. The couple’s bedroom, styled like a hotel suite, includes a picture window framing the village and a hinoki (Japanese cypress) soaking tub. The second floor, intended for children and grandchildren, offers rooms with terraces and even a mini kitchen.
The production team notes that neighbors worried the family even took on debt to build the house. The program explores why the couple chose to invest so heavily in their last home. After moving in, the pair told the crew they feel, if anything, younger — a change the broadcast will document.
The second house belongs to Han-yong and his wife. After a long career in IT, Han-yong took early retirement and spent 9 years transforming a weekend house he had built with a friend into a home that embodies his personal philosophy. At first he left most decisions to an architect because he was busy, but over time he realized his house was the most important place to express his life.
He settled on the Japanese aesthetic of wabi-sabi as his guiding concept. To infuse the home with the beauty of imperfection, he traveled across the country collecting basalt, natural stone, and reclaimed timber. The interior design team even visited Japan to better interpret and realize his tastes.
The house’s defining feature is a layout that echoes the natural world. Craftsmen installed reclaimed timber columns in the living room, and a staircase made from solid wood resin slabs is designed to feel like a flowing mountain stream. An island table, carefully tuned lighting, a bedroom designed for his wife, and a separate annex reflect meticulous, personal choices.
The production team also follows how an IT professional who lived by numbers and efficiency uncovered an unexpected artistic sensibility through renovation. Han-yong says the time he spent refining the house became his freest form of self-expression, and the episode will share that journey.
This episode does more than showcase large, showy homes. It asks what kinds of spaces people choose for old age and how they intend to spend the years they have left. By moving beyond the assumption that a small house is the only sensible option, the program offers a thoughtful look at people who made bold investments in their happiness.
EBS1’s ‘Architecture Exploration: Home — The Final House of Life: Built Without Holding Back’ airs on the 19th at 9:55 p.m. KST.
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