Korean Architecture

Prehistoric Period
In the Paleolithic the first inhabitants of the Korean peninsula used caves, rock shelters, and portable
shelters. Early pit-houses contained basic features such as hearths, storage pits, and space for working
and sleeping.

Neolithic patterns are traced on earthenware, stoneware, and bone and horn tools.

 Traditional patterns are mostly symmetrical.

 The superposing of components is avoided.
 Patterns do not have volume and perspective representation is often ignored

Color symbolisms (color, element, season and direction)

Color Element Season Direction
Yellow Earth Late Summer Center
Red Fire Summer South
Blue and Green Wood Spring East
Black Water Winter North
White Metal Autumn West

In the Mumun period buildings were pit dwellings with walls of wattle-and-daub and thatched roofs.
Raised-floor architecture first appeared in the Korean peninsula in the Middle Mumun, c. 850–550 BC

Hanok is an architectural term describing Korean traditional houses, also referred as Chosun houses.
Hanok is typically located with mountain in back, facing the water and north in direction. Each Hanok is
distinguishable in various features, built according to regional environments—such as distance and
direction of wind, water, land and mountains—and to meet its personal and distinctive objective and
interest of the owner 

Characteristics:
 The layout differs depending on the part of the country.
 The roof eaves are designed for lighting.
 Natural cross ventilation is a product of both the layout and doors that can be lifted and hung
perpendicular above entryways.
 Has either an Ondol (an underfloor heating system) or a Maru (a wide wooden floor area)
sometimes both.
Ondol- underfloor heating system

HANJI – a traditional Korean paper that is made from the bark of the mulberry tree.

Myeonjae Hanok is not grand in size or lavishly decorated, but is an exemplary high-class hank residence
that is well preserved. The structure of Myeongjae is based on scientific theories and humanistic
balance. Myeongjae is divided into three areas, the center Anchae, the front Sarangchae, and Sadang in
the back. Smaller units of houses and rooms construct the complete the hanok complex.

It is divided into three areas

Anchae the front - the main building as well as sleeping space for the following women with young
children, and is located on the inside that far from the entrance.

Sarangchae, and; is building for men or heads of families, including for food and sleep, and is at the
front.

Sadang in the back- a room for ancestral altars

Other areas
Haengrangchae- building for servants’ quarters, near the entrance

Bakkatchae- outer building

Bueok- kitchen with fireplaces

Madang- semi-private space for both housework and social interaction

Gwangchae- storage buildings

The Three Kingdoms

In the Three Kingdoms Period (3rd-4th century-668), some people lived in pit-houses while others lived
in raised-floor buildings. For example, the Hanseong (한성, 漢城; an eastern part of Seoul and western
part of Hanam city in Gyeonggi Province) Baekje settlement of Seongdong-ri in Gyeonggi Province
contained only pit-houses, while the Silla settlement of Siji-dong in Greater Daegu contained only raised-
floor architecture.

Fortress Architecture
Goguryeo, the largest kingdom among the Three Kingdoms of Korea, is renowned for its mountain
fortresses built horizontally and vertically along the incline of slopes. One of the well-preserved
Goguryeo fortresses is Baekam fortress (白巖城) constructed before 6th century in present-day South-
West Manchuria. A Chinese historian noted, "The Goguryeo people like to build their palaces well."
Patterned tiles and ornate bracket systems were already in use in many palaces in Pyongyang, the
capital, and other town-fortresses in what now is Manchuria.

Religious Architecture
 No two temple buildings are alike
 Each one is built so that the aerial view of the compound forms a mandala
 The main hall, the focal point of the compound is enhanced by the juxtaposition of the other
buildings
 Main hall is the heart of the temple complex and so it is built with special care and ceremony

The site of Mireuksa temple, the largest in Baekje, was excavated in 1980 at Iksan of Jeollabuk-do
Province. A stone pagoda at Mireuksa temple is one of two extant Baekje pagodas. It is also the largest
as well as being the oldest of all Korean pagodas. Mireuksa temple had an unusual arrangement of three
pagodas erected in a straight line going from east to west, each with a hall to its north. Each pagoda and
hall appears to have been surrounded by covered corridors, giving the appearance of three separate
temples of a style called "one Hall-one Pagoda."

Unified Silla Dynasty (668-935) architecture

The plans of Buddhist temples were characterized by two pagodas in front of the central main hall in a
symmetrical layout on the north-south axis with other buildings. Bulguksa Temple, built on a stone
platform at the foothill of Mt. Toham near Gyeongju, is the oldest existing temple in Korea

Goryeo (Koryŏ) Dynasty (918-1392) architecture

Goryeo (Koryo) architecture is defined as the period between the 10th century and the 14th century.
Buddhism played an important role in the culture and society at the time. Also, the capital of the Goryeo
dynasty was based in Gaesong, a city in modern-day North Korea. A few remaining wooden structures
from the late Goryeo period in South Korea show us significantly simpler bracketing. Bright and soft
coloring of these structures had been further developed since the Three Kingdoms era.

JAPANESE OCCUPATION ARCHITECTURE (1910 - 1945)

Japanese architecture was first introduced to Colonial Korea via transportation infrastructure-building
programs. New railway lines had Japanese-type railway stations and hotels. Western 'Euro-American'
Revival architectural styles were used for some new buildings important to the Japanese occupation in
Korea. Korean architecture with 20th-century influences did not develop until after Korean
independence in 1946.

POST-WAR PERIOD ARCHITECTURE

After the Surrender of Japan in 1945, American architecture assumed supremacy. Under Douglas
MacArthur, who set Korean domestic and political policy from the Supreme Command of the Allied
Powers headquarters in Tokyo. Seoul had survived much of World War II but during the Korean War
(1950–1953). In the north, Stalinist and absolutist, often brutalist architecture, was championed. North
Korean architects studied in Moscow or Soviet satellites, and brought back socialist worker styles and
huge celebratory people's architecture on a grand and massively impressive scale.

Post-modern Korean architecture

There was a new determination that nationalistic architectural elements had to be revived and refined.
Buildings had to mean something within their cultural context. Post-modern Korean architecture is
defined as from 1986 to 2005. Cultural and museum buildings have followed; with city halls and
buildings for the civil service appearing generally in a New York/Chicago style rather than following
London or Paris trends.
Muryangsujeon

Seoul City Hall

Hyundai I-Park Tower

Pitt-House

Wattle-and-daub and thatched roofs

HANJI
 Pagoda at Hwangnyongsa

BULGUKSA TEMPLE OR
PULGUK/ SEOKGURAM
GROTTO