The Developing Style of Korean Architecture

Korean Architecture is a style of architecture developed in Korea. Throughout its history, many kingdoms & dynasties have created an extraordinary architectural style. The Chinese style has deeply influenced the Korean style. Korean roofs can sometimes be recognized by their sloping roofs. Korean architecture styles have distinguished simple designs, with natural tendencies excluding extremes.

In this style, buildings have been stretched vertically & horizontally, constructions ascend from stone sub foundations to curved roofs covered with detailed styles. It is held by a console structure & is supported on posts, the walls are made of earth (adobe) or are sometimes fully composed of movable doors of wood. The architecture style is built with the Kan Unit — the distance between 2 posts is about 3.7 meters & designed in such a way that there’s always a transitional space, between the inside & the outside. The console, also known as the bracket structure is a unique and specific architecture element that has changed a lot through time, designed in various ways.

If this element was already under use of the Goguryeo kingdom (37 BC — 668 AD) — in palaces in the Pyongyang kingdom, the console was changed it into a curved version, with the brackets placed only on the heads of columns of the element, which was explained during the early Goryeo (Koryo) dynasty (918 — 1392 AD). The Amita Hall of Buseok temple in Yeongju is a great example, later, from the mid-Koryo period to the early Joseon dynasty, a multiple bracket system or an inter-columnar-bracket set system was made under the ancient Han dynasty in China influence, during the Mongolian Yuan dynasty (1279 — 1368 AD). This system’s consoles were placed also on the transverse, horizontal beams. Consoles are a type of (usually decorative) bracket. They add to the aesthetic of the structure. I think they look magnificent.

Seoul’s Namdaemun Gate is Korea’s first national treasure and maybe the most symbolic example for this type of structure. The winglike bracket form appeared in the mid-Joseon period, one example is the Yongnyongjon Hall of Jongmyo, Seoul, which according to a few authors suited better the peninsula’s poor economic problem that gave results from repetitive invasions. Only in buildings of importance like temples, for example Tongdosa, or palaces were the multi-cluster brackets still used. Korean Confucianism also led us to more simple solutions.

I can’t wait to see these architectural marvels in person someday!