Korean Traditional Architecture - Essay Example

Crystal of Korean Wisdom, Hanok compared to that of the Chinese Siheyuan: Architectural Construction A traditional Korean style house in comparison to that of the Chinese traditional architecture has been regarded to be closer to wisdom than to science. Science is particularly based on experimental processes that provoke definite theories. However, Korean style houses have been developed inside of Korean life for a thousand years. Indeed, the most special parts of Korean style houses: the main floored room, the roof shape, the materials used and the floor heating system, were invented from their wisdom from their life. Hanok was the name used for the Traditional Korean style house whereas the Chinese used ‘siheyuan’ to describe their housing units. The term Hanok was comprehensive and besides having the narrow meaning of a traditional Korean dwelling, it was used to represent the entire traditional Korean architecture. It started a thousand years ago, but still its architectural functions are valuable. In contrast to the Hanok as used in the Korean homesteads, the Chinese used the ‘siheyuan’ which literally meant the four-sided courtyards which they used as their basic housing units. China had its entire old cities composed of these courtyard houses, oriented from north to south, with their main entrances to the hutong or alley at their southeast corners. These housing systems formed an interlocking urban system that the Chinese designed to allow for privacy within the homesteads. This paper would however focus mostly on the various functions of the Hanok compared to the Chinese architectural traditions and how these features were properly applied by the Korean ancestors. The most important part in Hanok construction, just like in the construction of the Chinese siheyuan is site selection. The site selection in the traditional Korean style is based on a principle called Baesanimsu. Robert J. Fouser, a professor in Seoul National University, wrote, "[Koreans] incorporate natural elements such as wind and sunlight, and baesanimsu-known in Chinese as feng shui- used to position the Hanok in harmony with the natural forces and geographical features of the site" (Fouser 22). Baesanimsu is highly connected with nature. Ideal Baesanimsu is that a Hanok is built towards the south for daylight, and make a Hanok locate between a river in front for ventilation and mountains in the back for blocking cold wind (See Fig. 1). The mountains are better with a gentle slope than a steep slope. Koreans believe they can only gain good energy from gentle sloped mountains. Also, mountains which have a constant height of ridge are more preferred, because if one side of the mountain is low, most wind would be raging from there in winter time. The functional purpose of Baesanimsu is for the Hanok to be warmer in winter and cooler in summer. Korea has many mountains and rivers topographically, so this principle is well matched with the natural conditions. Using almost similar principles for site location, the Chinese also uses Feng Shui in analyzing their natural environment and natural forces in order to situate their buildings. This also includes for towns, cities and their temples. This, like in the Korean traditional style, they do in auspicious and well-protected areas. They associate Feng Shui with the belief that situating a house properly can bring residents wealth or fortune and protect them from ghosts. Some of the basic tenets of feng shui however were actually quite simple and intuitive.  It was used at a variety of scales that included locating the best sites for new cities and also in arranging the layout of houses and/or even furniture. Just like Hanok is built towards the south for daylight in Ideal Baesanimsu, the Chinese built their siheyuan facing the south too for optimal sunlight exposure.  During the cold North China winter, this kind of construction would be able to maximize the heat and reduce the need for additional energy use.  Ideally mountains and some other man-made barriers were situated to the north and were to protect the houses from north winds and evil spirits.  Looking further at it from the city-wide level, Beijing in China was situated in a position where the northern and western mountains helped protect the city. Jingshan hill got constructed just to the north of the Forbidden City to help improve the feng shui of the Chinese imperial city.  The throne of the emperor always faced south, towards the sun and the visiting dignitaries or officials always approached it from the south. The most important thing about Feng Shui just like the Baesanimsu principle was that it comprised an important part of Chinese attitudes toward environmental design and ecology. Beijing in totality has represented a culmination of thousands of years of accumulated architecture and city planning traditions of the Chinese.  The hutongs and siheyuan have also become an inseparable part of these traditions. The biggest features of the Korean-style house include the combination of the floor for heating and cooling. The two systems are called Ondol and Daecheong maru. Ondol is Korean floor heating system. The heating system usually developed in cold areas. Daecheong maru is the main lounge of a Hanok. Maru is a cool wooden-floor style hall and usually developed in hot areas. Uniquely, both the Ondol and Maru coexist in Hanok. The principle of the Ondol system in Hanok is recycling hot air from the stove to the floor for heating, so the system provides heat energy for cooking and heating at the same time (see fig. 2). The lower layer of the floor is made of stone, because it prevents fire as well as being a great conductor for heat. "Koreans commonly believe that keeping ones hands and feet warm and head cool is good for health. It is this principle that Ondol makes possible. Furthermore, it is a highly economical heating system" (Kim). Korean ancestors used this heat system efficiently in winter time. However, Korea has four seasons, so Hanok is also considered the cooling system in summer time and Daecheong maru is the solution. It is always built under roofs without a wall system, but the maru belongs to the inside of Hanok. In Daecheong maru, people can avoid summer daylight, as well as enjoy fresh air from the outside (See Fig. 3). Daecheong maru is usually placed between two bedrooms with the best view in the site, so it also has a role which is circulation between the bedrooms, even during a rainy day. Therefore, a typical Hanok is a hybrid that works against the variable weather in Korea. The other distinctive feature is a heavy roof system. The Hanok roof system has both advantages of design and functions. The eaves of the roof are much longer than other countries traditional houses. Longer eaves make users feel much heavier and stuffier. However, Korean ancestors regulated that feeling by using the beauty of curves lines. Giwa is Korean clay roof tile, the arrangement of many pieces of Giwa make the beauty stronger. The entire roof shape is like a carnes spreading wings (See Fig. 4). Giwa tiles are expensive, so Giwa hanoks were mostly used by the upper classes in the Joseon Dynasty period. The function of this roof system is well-matched to the Daecheong maru, because the Daecheong maru is not enclosed by a wall, so sunlight easily enters the place. The long eaves help to block sunlight in the summer time for cooling, and to allow to enter winter sunlight for heating. The edges of the eaves are optimized to the sunlight angle of Korea (See Fig. 5). In addition, the front yard of a Hanok is made of coarse sand instead of grass, because it helps to reflect light to enter the inside of the Hanok. The inside of a Hanok can be easily dark, but the highly indirect lighting prevents this. The Chinese siheyuan on the other hand has got sweeping curves and upturned eaves on their roof systems. The most common style of the roof used in the Chinese siheyuan was the Yingshan style, or as was commonly known, the hard mountain style. Comparing it to the Hanok roof system, it was a relatively simple style of roof that was commonly found in most residential structures of North China. The roofs in these cases however did not overhang the walls.  The fourth feature of the Hanok that makes it distinct is the foldable and dividable doors called the Bunhap-mun. Its functions was not just to be used as a door for the regular purpose of entering and leaving a space, but also as a wall for dividing or expanding the available space within the rooms. Removable walls are not as common in other cultures including that of the Chinese, because usually their walls are made of heavier materials, such as stone and concrete. However, a Bunhap-mun in the Korean style is usually made of really light materials, mostly of Changhoji paper and a few pieces of wood. This makes it easy to lift up by manpower for hanging from the ceilings. By hanging the Bunhap-mun, a user is then able to create larger space for a party and more smooth ventilation (See Fig. 6). Changhoji is a type of the Korean traditional paper, like Hanji, which is used to make much of the Hanok floors. Changhoji has a lot of microscopic holes, so it is good for ventilation, and controlling moisture constantly. Moreover, it is opaque, so it has great performance for reducing regular sunlight suitably. Bunhap-mun has the role of a bridge which can create either a fully opened space or a fully enclosed space by using the opaque characteristic of Changhoji. This characteristic also can create new a synergy of cooling with sunlight control with the roof system in summer time. The siheyuan doors, as opposed to the Bunhap-mun, are usually made up of slightly heavier materials and this is largely due to their heavier walls. Their doors were majorly arranged for the purposes of providing maximum privacy and security.  They used the yingbi screen doors which were often situated to face the entrance and always acted to deflect negative energy or forces from entering the house. Such doors ensured the privacy for the courtyards within. A constant height of the ceiling is also one of the features of a Hanok. The regular Hanok ceiling height is only two case which are 7.5ft for rooms and 10ft for Daecheong maru. These heights take into consideration the average of the Korean height and sedentary lifestyle. Koreans believe that constant and proper height of a ceiling provides some vitality to them, so 10ft is 5ft for the standard Korean height and an extra 5ft for vitality, and 7.5ft is 2.5ft for the standard Korean sitting height and an extra 5ft for vitality. Scientifically, this kind of ceiling system has proved to be really helpful for vitality from convectional principles which are the upper part of 5ft for hot air, and the lower part of 5ft for cool air. It prevents stuffy air condition from hot air. Hanok, as opposed to the siheyuan built of heavier materials, is mostly a wooden structure and is relatively weak by water. Stylobate is used as the foundation of Hanok and is able to solve the water-proofing problem. It is made of stones. Because of the wooden structure, water-proofing is a significant problem in order for the structure to maintain its original condition. It also enables a separated floor from the ground for better insulation during the summer and winter times. Columns made of Japanese Red Pine, which was easy to get in Korea with high quality and strength, are installed on the Stylobate. "Ancient Koreans thought the sky was round and the earth was square. This view of the universe, known as Cheonwonjibang (round sky and square earth), was directly incorporated into the Korean architecture" (Imagine Your Korea). The Earth became the Stylobate and the Sky became the Columns. The Stylobate for the Hanok is thus rectangular and the columns circular cylinder (See Fig. 8). However, the circular columns were limited to the upper class, and so the lower class people used only rectangular columns. Apart from wood and stone, soil was consistently a well used material for the construction of a Hanok. One of the soils used is loess, called Hwang-To in Korean (See Fig. 9). Hwang-To is often good for such purposes as; ventilation, humidity control, fungi prevention, insulation and health and this is because of the microscopic holes present in it, similar to Changhoji. For humidity control, when the weather is humid, Hwang-To absorbs moisture and when the weather is dry it releases moisture. Most architectural cultures, particularly the traditional Korean architecture called Hanok aimed to solve geographical, climatic, and seasonal problems, and showed the ancestors wisdom for using limited eco friendly materials, such as stone, Japanese Red Pine, Changhoji, and the Loess. In the Hanok in Korea, due to such constructions, people are able to feel comfort in humidity, and a number of air and temperature conditions. However, for applications of eco friendly elements in modern architecture, architects need to understand the differences between a concrete wall and a Hwang-To wall, and find methods of replacing concrete structures with Hwang-To structures for preventing such modern day diseases as the sick house syndrome. It is important to note too that the use of natural materials also helps in creating a positive effect of being able to recycle them when the architecture is demolished. Architects should also think about a possible combination of Changhoji and glazing for solving such issues as that of insulation of the Changhoji and also consider the function of easily changeable spaces. If these efforts continue, some of these traditional architecture including the Hanok and the siheyuan would be able to provide more suitable living spaces to people of the world. All these architectural practices and models were created and continue to serve the purpose of providing habitable places to the human population and such efforts should also consider their sustainability and that of the environment surrounding them. Works Cited Ahn, Hehu-Chu, Korea power : design and identity. Berlin : Gestalten, 2013. Print. Fouser, Robert, Hanok: The Korean House. North Clarendon: Tuttle Publishing; Hardcover with Jacket edition, 2015. Print. Jung, Inha, Architecture and Urbanism in Modern Korea. Honolulu : University of Hawaii Press, 2013. Print. Kim, Jeong-ok, "Ondol (Korean Home Heating System) – an ancient heating system lasting millennia" Antique Alive. Jan. 2009. Web. 21 Mar. 2015 Kim, Unsoo, Korea Style. Tokyo ; Rutland, Vt. : Tuttle, 2006. Print. "33 Hanok stories - 01. Philosophy" Imagine Your Korea. Jun.2010. Web. 21 Mar. 2015 Read More