Hanok: The Korean House. Nani Park

      Preface

      Gangnam Style, K-Pop, kimchee, bulgogi, “Winter Sonata” and “Daejanggum”—these are the words that most commonly come to mind when foreigners think of Korea. While these cultural icons have contributed immensely to the popularity of Korean music, cuisine and television viewing at home and abroad, they are only a small part of Korean history, tradition and culture. My aim in this book is to expand readers’ awareness of Korea by adding another word, one that is an integral part of Korean architectural history and, with it, culture. The word is hanok and it refers to the traditional wooden house structure that originated in the Joseon Dynasty in the late fourteenth century.

      As a one and a half generation Korean-American, returning to live in Korea was not an easy adjustment for me. During my first two years in Korea, I developed a love–hate relationship with my old–new home. My return was a constant process of learning to assimilate into a culture that I had left behind when I was a mere eight years old. Being bilingual helped tremendously with the transition, but the Korea I remembered was old-fashioned, distant and quaint compared to the bustling concrete jungle that now surrounded me. My fondest memory of my childhood was of running through our neighborhood, a maze of narrow winding paths that separated hanok, and the seemingly endless waves of tiled roofs. Reminiscing on my childhood home in my very own hanok is where I got the idea for this book.

      I believe anything old is new again and people yearn to return to the basics. Many Koreans today are growing up walled off, surrounded by concrete partitions separating them from the world outside. They long for an environmentally friendly architectural space of their own. One of the hanok featured in this book is owned by a popular interior designer who is involved in the social media community of Korea. Whenever he tweets or posts photos of his hanok, his young followers comment how envious they are and how they would love a hanok of their own. Living in a hanok is now considered trendy!

      A few years ago, when visiting a friend’s newly built hanok, I was amazed by the interior. Whereas the exterior remained traditional, the inside of her home was completely modern. It was the opposite of what I remembered about early hanok. I began to search for books on these distinctive traditional Korean homes to satisfy my curiosity, but it was quickly apparent that very little had been published in English (or Korean) about them. Detailed descriptions are essential in understanding the history and the reasoning behind structures like hanok. I felt that the integral aspects of hanok—their beauty, harmony and simplicity—could best be demonstrated through a photographic book with accompanying text. I wanted readers to be able to imagine themselves in one of these honorable and elegant houses.

      In order to turn my dream into reality, I had to find twelve representative hanok that showed style and taste. The process of locating, selecting and receiving permission to enter and publicize these homes was the most difficult challenge in producing the book. Not only did I have to search hard for these homes, I had to make sure they represented the complete range of hanok, from old to new, and be of sufficient size and within the city limits. I wanted to show how the hanok has fared over the years and how it has changed to suit modern needs while remaining historically appealing. Once I was able to identify my ideal group of hanok, I next had to seek permission from the owners to write about and photograph their homes. I shall be forever grateful to these people for opening up their private living spaces to my team, thereby giving readers, far and wide, a rare glimpse into the Korean hanok experience.

      One of the owners whose home is featured in the book told me that building a hanok was like a circus. Both require many “performers,” each dependent on the collaboration and cooperation of the others for success. A hanok’s beauty and durability depends on the architect who has to understand the materials and the steps in the construction processes; the stonemason who chisels rocks and lays the foundation; the carpenter who erects wooden support beams and other members without using a single nail; the roof tiler who achieves both function and beauty with his care; the paper expert who covers wood-framed windows and doors and walls. Every part of the process is done by specialists using only the finest natural materials—earth, stone, wood and paper—in an integrated sequence. According

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