Officetels with Balconies... Distinctive Space Design for "Okjeong Jungang Station Dieterre II"

- Balcony Installations in Officetels Fully Permitted Following February 2024 Amendment by the Ministry of Land
- "Okjeong Jungang Station Dieterre II" to Feature Balconies as First in Yangju, Launching in October

In the past, officetels faced restrictions that made it virtually impossible to include balconies. Under the Building Act, officetels have been classified as "general business facilities," and the relevant standards explicitly stated, "Do not install balconies for each office unit." Although many people have actually used officetels for residential purposes, there have been consistent criticisms that they feel smaller than apartments, as they lack balconies that could be used for laundry, storage, or installing air conditioning units.

This situation changed with the amendment to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport's "Officetel Building Standards" notification, which took effect on February 23, 2024. The government explained the background for the revision as follows: "Although, under the Building Act, officetels are classified as business facilities, they are widely recognized and used for residential purposes as well. However, unlike collective housing, balconies have been prohibited, so there was a need to revise the standards to promote the supply of officetels with comfortable living conditions."

As a result, the provision prohibiting balcony installations has been deleted, and balconies are now legal in officetels. According to Statistics Korea, the number of officetel construction permits has already surpassed that of multi-family and multi-unit housing since 2019. Therefore, the easing of regulations is seen as belatedly following the realities of the market.

Recently, balconies have been increasingly used in various ways to match different lifestyles. In the interior design industry, popular examples include a "home café" with a coffee machine and table, a "home bar" for enjoying drinks, a "mini garden (green terrace)" filled with plants and flowerpots, a "home office" with a folding desk, and a play area for pets.

Experts note that balconies are well-ventilated and serve as a buffer zone between the inside and outside, making them well-suited for eating meals or simply relaxing with a cup of tea. In this way, balconies are attracting attention as "personal spaces" that can be customized in various ways to suit individual tastes, rather than being just surplus floor area.

Particularly for officetels used as residences, balconies provide an additional space connected to the indoors, enabling more distinctive layouts than existing products.

The upcoming "Okjeong Jungang Station Dieterre II" (853 units, exclusive area 119㎡ OA·OB·OC), to be launched by Daebang Construction in October, also features balcony designs. This is the first officetel in Yangju City to incorporate balcony layouts, allowing a larger usable area than conventional officetels of the same size.

"Okjeong Jungang Station Dieterre II" will consist of 5 underground floors and up to 49 floors above ground, with all buildings oriented mainly toward Okjeong Lake Park, so many units will have lake views (in some units). The complex will be located right in front of the upcoming Okjeong Jungang Station on Subway Line 7. It will also offer excellent transport connections, as it will be connected in the future to Deokjeong Station (where GTX-C has recently started construction) via the planned Deokjeong-Okjeong Line.

The complex will also offer community facilities exclusively for residents, such as a swimming pool, fitness center, sauna, and golf practice range. Previously, in April, 2,807 apartment units were successfully sold on the same site; with the addition of "Dieterre II," the "Daebang Construction" brand town in the Okjeong District will expand to a total of 8,088 units.

A project official stated, "Until now, officetels were perceived as offering less usable space than apartments due to the absence of balconies, but with these restrictions lifted, it is now possible to expand the usable area through service space. We've applied these changes by incorporating balcony designs in this Okjeong Jungang Station Dieterre II project."

"Okjeong Jungang Station Dieterre II" is scheduled for launch in October, and the model home will be located in Okjeong-dong, Yangju City, Gyeonggi Province.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.