Aoa Architects has clad the stepped gables of a playful apartment block in South Korea with glossy red and white tiles in a reference to the video game Minecraft.
The building, called Cascade House on account of its symmetrical stepped form, is located in Seoul's Mangwon-dong area.

Along with Minecraft, Aoa Architects also cited colourful Lego bricks and the stepped gables of traditional Belgian houses as inspiration for the form and facade.
Cascade house has apartments for five families placed atop a ground-floor shop.

The design was also chosen as a counterpoint to the area's more bland, regulations-driven architecture.
"Most family houses in the neighbourhood are the result of the auto-generative form [caused] by building regulations, such as solar setback requirements and the economic inevitability to accommodate as many units as possible," explained the practice.
Instead, the unusually-shaped block conceals five apartments, arranged in a symmetrically.
The block's line of symmetry cuts through a central staircase, which has been finished in exposed concrete and thin steel balustrades.

Access to this stair is via an open undercroft supported by concrete pillars which sits alongside the shop unit, providing parking space and also a semi-private area next to the street.
This undercroft gives a lightness to the bold stepped gables above.

Cascade House's corners are accented by contrasting rough stone panels that also mark the top of each window.
"The de...