Furniture Design Ideas

Any consideration of the Korean home and lifestyle must first take into account the fact that Koreans do not habit­ually use chairs, but sit on the floor, a custom central to the ondol method of heating. Perhaps the most distinctive feature of the plan of the dwelling is the versatility and multipurpose nature of nearly […]

The Convergence of Ondol – and Maru-Based Structures The spread of the ondo/-heated pang from the homes of the rural masses to the upper classes and the cities, and the spread of the wooden-floor taech’dng and таги in the other direction, together contributed to the distinctive composition of traditional Korean dwellings. The major difference between […]

A traditional ondol is only effective when used with a flue structure of limited length, and this inevitably limits the size of the rooms in which it can serve as a sufficient heat source. The basic unit of measure for pang is one k’an (a square measure each side of which is equal to the […]

The constraints imposed by the ondol system of floor heating were a major factor in the interior layout of tradi­tional Korean homes. Confucian philosophy was central to the division of the 93 Section and perspective views of the о ndol heating system and wooden floor structures. dwelling into the anch’ae, sarangch’ae, and haengnagch’ae, but the […]

Social status, as described above, was an important factor in the composition of every traditional Korean dwelling, but the Confucian principles underpinning the hierarchi­cal social system also had an influence on the basic design and layout of homes in other, much more direct, ways. Once neo-Confucianism, with its emphasis on moral duty, was established as […]

The village of Yangdong in the Wolsong district, about four kilometers (2.5 miles) south of Kyongju, is a treasure trove of traditional rural dwellings. Farmers’ homes are scattered among low pine trees on the southern side of a medium-sized hill. Looming over all, near the summit of the hill and surrounded by a wall, is […]

One of the strongest impressions that visitors to China remark on is the enormous number of bicycles in Beijing, Shanghai, and the other major cities. Visitors to Korea, on the other hand, are often surprised at how few people they see riding bicycles in Seoul, Pusan, or Kyongju. This con­trast reflects the fundamental difference between […]

T raditional Korean gardens are said to always have an “untouched” or “natural” appearance. People taking a strictly Japanese view might say that there is no such thing as a formal garden in the Korean tradition. They would also say that there is really no artificial ornamentation in traditional Korean archi­tecture. All a Korean garden […]

The traditional composition of Chinese dwellings, where­by a number of units are joined to form a residential com­plex is a design influenced by a feudal patriarchy rooted in a class system. Confucianism was key to the maintenance of this feudal order. As explained earlier, Confucianism became the orthodox system of thought in Chinese histo­ry, developing […]

The Northern Song-treatise on landscape painting Lin quan gao zhi xu (The lofty message of forests and streams), considered the most important of its genre, was written by Guo Xi (after a. d. 1000-ca. 1090), who had studied Tao­ism in his youth and was the most famous Academy land­scapist of his time. In the section […]