HANOK – Soulful Food is an exercise in Cross-cultural spatial translation. It is an adaptive reuse intervention by SAGA Design Studio that Reconfigures a modest private residence in Hyderabad into a Korean-inspired dining destination. Curated by Principal Architect Muralidhar Gajula, the project does not seek to replicate the formal vocabulary of the traditional Korean hanok, but to distil its Tectonic Sensibility — its Attentiveness to nature, crafted Restraint, and quiet spatial cadence — and Reground these qualities within an Indian tropical and urban context. Core hanok elements — Articulated pitched roofs, timber Geometries, lattice screen patterns, and the Deliberate Porosity between interior and Exterior — are Reinterpreted through locally available materials and indigenous construction techniques, producing an identity that is simultaneously Culturally Resonant and Contextually Authentic.
This Adaptive Reuse Intervention Reconfigures A Private Residence | Saga Architecture
Working within a Constrained budget of ₹1 Crore, the studio Elevated fiscal limitation into a Generative design principle. The adaptive reuse strategy Prioritised structural Retention over Demolition, reducing Embodied energy while Enabling High-impact transformation through Precision-targeted interventions.
The primary Architectural gesture — a Mangalore-tiled pitched roof on a Lightweight MS Armature clad in Distressed pine. It functions as a contemporary Reinterpretation of the madang, the hanok’s central Courtyard. It is a Luminous, Cross-ventilated dining Pavilion that mediates between enclosed rooms and the planted exterior. The roof choreographs a fluid transition between shelter and landscape.
The material palette is restrained yet texturally differentiated — woven bamboo ceilings, distressed pine cladding, terracotta jaali screens, rough-hewn stone flooring, and ochre texture renders collectively construct a warmth evocative of East-Asian vernacular craft while remaining grounded in Indian material tradition.
Local artisans were commissioned for custom bamboo weaving, hand-laid brick jaalis, and bespoke joinery, embedding the project within a regional craft ecology.
The spatial promenade unfolds from a pitched canopy threshold through a verandah-like transitional corridor into the central pavilion, then further into intimate cellular dining chambers articulated with timber floors and lattice cladding referencing the changho — the Korean window frame.
This stratified sequence of threshold, veranda, courtyard, and enclosed chamber produces a layered phenomenological rhythm: domestically scaled yet culturally distinct.
HANOK – Soulful Food advances a position of economy with elegance — demonstrating that atmospheric depth and cultural legibility need not depend on material extravagance. It is, ultimately, an architecture of cultural dialogue: the essence of the Korean hanok, distilled through the material intelligence and climatic pragmatism of Hyderabad.
Fact File
Designed by: Saga Architecture
Project Type: Food & Beverage
Project Name: Hanok Seoulful Food
Location: Hyderabad, Telangana, India
Year Built: 2024
Project Cost: 1.5 Crore
Built-up Area: 4000 Sq.ft
Principal Architect: Muralidhar Gajula
Photograph Credits: Hansoga Photography
Firm’s Website Link: Saga Architecture
Firm’s Instagram Link: Saga Architecture
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