Abstract
JOURNAL OF ASIAN ARCHITECTURE AND BUILDING ENGINEERING https://doi.org/10.1080/13467581.2023.2171731 ARCHITECTURAL HISTORY AND THEORY Visualising the invisible: meanings of architectural drawings produced in the early modern Korean context Yoonchun Jung School of Architecture, Hongik University, Seoul, South Korea ABSTRACT ARTICLE HISTORY Received 3 April 2022 This paper examines the architectural significance of the first architectural drawings on Korean Accepted 19 January 2023 housing conditions produced between 1904 and 1932. Based on the political context of the time and place under investigation, most of the drawings produced at the time reflect Japan’s KEYWORDS orientalist perspectives on its Asian neighbours. Nevertheless, due to the close socio-cultural Korean modern housing; relationships that existed between Japan and Korea in the early 1900s, shared contemporary architectural drawings; Kil- architectural knowledge, such as positivism and human geography, played an important role in Ryong Park; borders and the creation of Korean architectural drawings. In this context, by closely communicating with thresholds the Japanese active in the Korean peninsula, Kil-Ryong Park developed his unique architectural approaches to analyse and create Korean housing conditions by producing poetic perspectival drawings without real-life qualities and devising architectural borders and thresholds, while meticulously examining the sites’ microscopic physical and environmental conditions. This research employs the hermeneutic research approach to address the gaps within existing scholarship which has so far focused only on the scientific and utilitarian characteristics of Park’s architectural work. 1. Introduction They were actualised by the efforts of Japanese folk- lorist Wajiro Kon (1888–1973), who had come to the This study examines the architectural drawings of Korean peninsula to investigate Korean vernacular three historically important architects who worked on housing, minka. Kon’s meticulously created hand visualising Korean building traditions in the early drawings reflected the Japanese tradition of human 1900s. Further, it sheds light on the manner in which geography of the time and depicted Korean people’s the first modern Korean architect formulated his archi- lifestyles in various architectural settings in detail. In tectural ideas by both embracing and developing con- many cases, the drawings even included everyday temporary Japanese architectural knowledge that was items, such as clothing, tools, and furniture. To create circulated in the Korean peninsula. At the time, archi- vivid atmospheres, Kon immersed himself in the peo- tecture was a new discipline in the modern Korean ple’s living scenes observed by him, due to which his context. Hence, early architectural drawings were pri- drawings create architectural qualities that enable marily made by Japanese architectural historians, such viewers to reproduce the same scenes before their as Tadashi Sekino (1868–1935), who first came to eyes. A series of annotated texts placed next to the Korean peninsula to investigate vernacular building drawings played an important role in helping their traditions as part of Japanese colonial projects in poetic imaginations, as well. 1904. Heavily influenced by the positivistic research While doing his architectural apprenticeship under trend popular in Japan, his drawings were not so much the Japanese in the early 1920s, Kil-Ryong Park, the first architectural in terms of visualizing the invisible as modern Korean architect, conducted field research on being analytical and scientific where the subject simply Korean minka with Yoshiyuki Iwatsuki, a Japanese described the physicality of architectural objects freed architectural engineer, in 1923. As part of this research, from their surrounding environments. Park made a series of architectural drawings depicting In the early 1920s, a new set of architectural draw- how Iwatsuki’s architectural ideas regarding the char- ings was introduced into the Korean colonial context. acteristics of Korean vernacular housing from various CONTACT Yoonchun Jung yoonchunjung@gmail.com School of Architecture, Hongik University, K113, 94, Wausan-ro, Mapo-gu Seoul 04066, South Korea Numerous construction drawings were produced by Koreans in the late 19th century; however most of them are technical drawings and survey maps made for governmental purposes. They are not architectural drawings in the sense that they do not provoke “productive human imaginations and atmospheres”. Architectural theoretician Alberto Pérez-Gómez describes the architectural importance of visualisation while analysing the architecture of John Hejduk in his collection of essays. See Pérez-Gómez (2016). Architectural historian Izumi Kuroishi introduced this Wajiro Kon’s unique architectural approach to his objects for investigation. See Kuroishi 1998). French philosopher Paul Ricoeur (1913–2005) argued that creative human imagination has a linguistic origin. See Ricoeur, (1979). © 2023 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group on behalf of the Architectural Institute of Japan, Architectural Institute of Korea and Architectural Society of China. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. 2 Y. JUNG regions, which were based on the Japanese engineer’s (minka) [Special report on the investigation of the set- observation of Korean people’s lives, influenced Park’s tlements of Joseon: vol. 1 (vernacular housing)], Chosen unique perspectives of Korean minka. In the early to Kenchiku [Joseon and Architecture], and Chosen 1930s, as soon as he opened his own architectural bijutsu Shi [The History of Joseon Art]. Some of the practice, which was the first Korean architectural office, figures used in this study are from Japanese and Park started popularising his own architectural ideas Korean archival materials. By rigorously reading and on reforming traditional Korean housing conditions analysing these texts and drawings, the author tries and visualising them in newspapers and journals to unpack the architectural meanings of modern through carefully produced architectural drawings Korean architectural representations. and texts. Most of the architectural drawings produced by 3. Importance of drawings in architectural Park during his practice have not been passed down imaginations to the present time. Hence the aforementioned draw- ings and texts are the only sources to unveil the archi- Even if computer-generated means of architectural tectural ideas and intentions of the first modern representation, such as two-dimensional rendering Korean architect, which seem to have an important images and three-dimensional digital models, have bearing on the contemporary architectural knowledge become very popular in contemporary architectural circulated in the Korean peninsula. Moreover, current education and practice, architects continue to develop research approaches on Park and his architectural sig- their ideas and concepts using hand drawings; hand- nificance, which focus only on the scientific and hygie- made physical models; and, sometimes, writings, as nic aspects of his contributions, have several advocated by many eminent architectural academics shortcomings in that they formulate misconceptions of our time. As Robin Evans once argued that “it is true regarding modern Korean architecture as being limited that imaginative work of architecture has for a long to efficient buildings alone. This biased conception time been accomplished almost exclusively through causes one to understand architectural ideas from an drawing, though manifested almost exclusively in engineering-oriented perspective alone, which under- building”, among such architectural media, drawing mines the possibility of these ideas becoming commu- is considered the most fundamental means by which nicative settings in the modern Korean context. architects imagine and design “good” architecture, as In this context, Park’s architectural legacy is impor- historically proven by great architects of all ages. tant because his architectural drawings and texts Hand drawings occupy an undeniably important reflect ideas that are not visible and, by using them position in the creation of architecture. Moreover, appropriately, he developed his architectural creations they provide viewers important clues to understand by not only specifying utilitarian ideas for building but the embedded (hidden) architectural meanings or also considering borders, thresholds, demarcations, intentions. Commonly, but mistakenly, known as pro- and orientations in designing interior and exterior con- totypical drawings for modern plans, sections, and ditions, which ultimately enabled the creation of mod- elevations, according to Alberto Pérez-Gómez, the ern scientific architectural atmospheres. In this regard, neat and clean drawings made by Palladio (1508– Park’s achievements through architectural drawings in 1580) for Villa La Rotonda represent his architectural his early years of practice reveal a unique characteristic ideals, rather than instructions for building of modern Korean architecture. construction. In this sense, an “architectural drawing is not a tool of reduction as contemporary architects 2. Methods and materials and educators seem to misunderstand, rather it is the embodiment of architectural ideas” Pérez-Gómez As informed by the hermeneutic research approach, (1982). This imaginative and symbolic potential of the author focuses on texts and architectural drawings architectural drawings was retained in later periods, found in governmental reports, journal articles, and as well. For instance, the famous etching series The books produced between 1904 and 1932. They include Chosen buraku chosa tokubetsu hokoku: dai 1-satsu Prisons by Giovanni Battista Piranesi (1720–1778), Regarding the research field trip made by Iwatsuki and Park, See Jung (2015). Previous studies on Kil-Ryong Park only highlight his architectural efforts on reforming Korean housing architecture with utilitarian ideas. See Soon-Ae (1987); Seog-Ki (1993). Alberto Pérez-Gómez described the importance of architecture in the creation of communicative settings. This research employs the hermeneutic research approach to highlight the importance of human imagination in interpreting old architectural texts. By maximising the poetic potentials of language and by tracing the discontinuities within official history, the research creates new stories that can and they can continuously generate important architectural discourses for the present and the future. See Pérez-Gómez 2016a). In this paper, I use the term “drawing” to indicate “sketching”. Both the words have symbolic meanings and are different from the term “reductive diagram”, which refer to notational and instrumental aspects. See Sonit (2008). See Evans (1984); To understand the importance of writing in architecture, see Sioli and Jung (2018). Alberto Pérez-Gómez argued that the drawings were modified in relation to site conditions at the time of physical construction. JOURNAL OF ASIAN ARCHITECTURE AND BUILDING ENGINEERING 3 which seems indecipherable at first glance, indicates poetic architectural ideas. In the testimonial essay titled “Paradoxes of the Ordinary” Moshen Mostafavi reaffirms that natural architectural drawings require several readings before they can realise the final product. This was clarified by Robin Evans in his essay “Translations from Drawing to Building”, as well. Mostafavi (1997) By carefully analysing the work of Landhaus in Brick by Mies Van der Rohe, Sonit Bafna proves the possi- bility that “architectural drawings seem to function as works of architecture in their own right” Bafna (2009). Even if the project is not meant for physical realisation, it draws our visual attention and makes Figure 1. An illustration of the Hwaseong Fortress published in us look for its invisible architectural qualities, such as 1801 (Source: Hwaseong Songyouk Eugye, The Construction material and structural properties; finally, it brings us Records of Hwaseong Fortress). experiential qualities with our enactive perceptual engagements to them. Architecture was imported into the modern Korean recorded for the first time between 1794 and th context as a new concept in the late 19 century. 1796. However, the compiled documents are There is no evidence that Korean building traditions visual illustrations, rather than architectural draw- were formulated using autonomous architectural ings, supplementing post-construction textual media portraying developing ideas. In this respect, records describing the building process. Toward the imaginative potential of architectural drawings in the end of the 19th century, the Japanese and the sense of the aforementioned qualities never Western missionaries who started settling in the existed in the traditional Korean context. Instead, Korean peninsula produced construction drawings under Chinese cultural influences, the Korean building for their own purposes. Although these drawings tradition was established by skilful craftspeople who are historically important since they portray the did not consult any physical documents, and this tradi- stylistic and material preferences of the time, it is tion was passed down across generations for thou- difficult to find the aforementioned architectural th sands of years. In the 18 century, some perspectival qualities in these drawings. Figure 2. and axonometric paintings describing traditional built The potential of architectural drawings does not environments were produced. However, they are lie in their “notational” or “instrumental” qualities simple brush paintings that stylistically emulate their and representational accuracy. Rather, it is related Chinese counterparts, and they were influenced by the to the depiction of future, entirely “imaginative”, contemporary scientific knowledge and skills intro- buildings. When making drawings, architects duced by Italian missionaries and merchants. mobilise their knowledge and personal experiences Figure 1. and project them to create visual narratives of th From the end of the 18 century, technical draw- human living conditions. By including “a special ings started being circulated in the Korean penin- mode of visual attention”, architectural drawings sula, which signalled the beginning of modern create “communicative settings” that facilitate pro- architectural and civil engineering construction. ductive architectural experiences providing various Nevertheless, most of them were survey maps and levels of perceptual distance between the viewer topographical documents produced by the govern- and the viewed. Therefore, to understand the ment for the nationwide application of a modern beginning of architectural drawings in the modern land use system. Under a more liberal and practical Korean context, it is important to study the efforts social atmosphere, the entire construction process to modernise Korean building traditions that were of the Suwon Hwaseong Fortress was visually initiated in the early 1900s. Even if they are limited to visual recordings of existing architectural objects, See the essay by Sonit Bafna. “Renaissance architectural drawing was perceived as a symbolic intention to be fulfilled in the building, while remaining an autonomous realm of expression”. See Alberto Pérez-Gómez, “Architecture as Drawing,” 2. In the Western architectural perspective, Isometric and Axonometric drawings are not simply techniques for representation. They included provocative ideas regarding human conditions in built environments. See Pérez-Gómez and Pelletier (2000). To understand this context, see Sŏng-mi (2015). Hwaseong Fortress is widely known to have been designed by the prominent Silhak scholar Yakyong Jeong (1762–1863) of the Joseon dynasty; in this construction, Jeong designed a crane for the first time in Korea. The term “notional” is borrowed from Sonit Bafna’s article to deliver ideas as opposed to the ideas for “imaginative”. Sonit Bafna, “How architectural drawings work – and what that implies for the role of representation in architecture,” 535. 4 Y. JUNG mentality, Sekino used a comparative research methodology and measured and analysed the sizes and forms of the discovered artefacts to historicise them by visually proving the spread of stylistic developments from Korea to Japan. th Around the end of the 19 century, positivism was a popular topic of interest among academics in Japan, where the scientific and materialistic modernisation propagated by the government was carried out in many areas of study. To teach history in the Faculty of Letters at the Tokyo Imperial University, the Japanese government hired the German philosopher Ludwig Riess (1861–1928), who was a student of Leopold von Ranke (1795–1886) and an expert in the empirical historical approach. In particular, in Japan, education in the newly established field of architecture was modelled on that in Great Britain, and a group of English architects, including Josiah Conder, came to Japan to visit the architecture department of the Tokyo Imperial University. In 1896, Banister Fletcher’s canonical work on architectural history was imported to the Japanese architectural circle, and his famous Figure 2. A construction drawing of Daehan Clinic, which was diagram showing a tree structure of European archi- constructed in 1907 (Source: National Archives of Korea). tectural traditions in relation to their adjacent geogra- phical areas became popular among young Japanese architects, who attempted to conceptualise Japanese the drawings produced at the time reveal how architectural history in a highly hierarchical and stylis- architects mobilised, examined, and documented tic manner. the period’s social norms and ideals. Being educated and practiced in this very specific academic atmosphere, Sekino was aware of the positi- vistic historical approach advocated by his colleagues 4. Architectural drawings produced by and started using it to investigate Korean art and Tadashi Sekino and Wajiro Kon in the early architectural traditions in the early 1900s. To under- 1900s stand and analyse these traditions, he used various types of documentation, including photographs, With the complete support of Tatsuno Kingo (1854– hand drawings, and texts. In particular, he was very 1919), one of the first students of the government- interested in tracing the outlines and forms of objects appointed British architect Josiah Conder (1852– that appeared totally detached from their surrounding 1920) and the department head of Tokyo Imperial environments. In this process, he emotionally and phy- University, architect and professor Sekino Tadashi sically distanced himself from the artifacts that were first investigated Korean archaeological remains in under his careful visual inspection. As a result, he came 1904 to find Japanese architectural origins in the to position himself as a passive “modern observer” of Korean peninsula. As a temporary employee of the the views presented before his quasi-scientific eyes. Japanese Government-General of Korea, Tadashi Figure 3. investigated Korean artistic and architectural tradi- Sekino’s varying interests included living items and tions and, along with writing a large number of even landscapes. When producing relevant hand official governmental reports, published the first drawings, he highlighted the objects’ three- architectural history book titled Chosen bijutsu shi dimensional qualities by adding shadows and perspec- (The History of Joseon Art) in 1932 Sekino (1932). In tival techniques. His unique talent to extract physical this process, since he possessed a scientific In 1877, British architect Josiah Condor was hired by the Japanese government to teach architecture at the Tokyo Imperial University. Positivism refers to a philosophical theory that forms the basis of an ongoing debate relevant to multiple academic disciplines. Essentially, a positivist approach posits an objective reality, the knowledge of which can be discovered through empirical methods, while considering alternate forms of knowing (interpretation or intuition) meaningless. See Von Hayek (1979). “Banister Fletcher’s A History of Architecture was originally published in 1896 and in 1919 was the first historical book on architecture ever translated into Japanese, but it was not until the book’s sixth edition, in 1921, that a separate chapter on Japanese architecture was added. Ten years before the Japanese translation of the first edition, historian Chuta Ito criticized the book’s eurocentrism, but still used Fletcher’s theoretical structure to imagine his own parallel history of Japanese architecture – a simultaneity of acceptance and rejection that has come to define Japan’s relationship with western architectural history” Yatsuka (2009). They are stored at the Sekino Tadashi Collection in the Tokyo University. JOURNAL OF ASIAN ARCHITECTURE AND BUILDING ENGINEERING 5 Figure 3. Sekino’s architectural drawings of Korean living items and timber structural elements detached from their original places (Source: Sekino Tadashi Collection, Tokyo University). forms is clearly depicted in his drawings of traditional inspections became popular in the early colonial Korean buildings. Similar to his consideration of still life Korean context, and mainstream Japanese architects drawings, Sekino regarded Korean architectural tradi- used this research methodology to study and docu- tions objects that were free from their environmental ment Korean building traditions. However, the early settings and placed them in a three-dimensional space. 1920s witnessed the emergence of a new perception Sometimes, he drew detailed architectural elements by on architectural conditions as detailed expressions of separating them from the overall structure, whereas, at people’s everyday lives in relation to their environmen- other times, he produced compositional drawings tal settings, and this perception was heavily influenced depicting structural ideas. In this manner, Sekino by the Japanese human geography tradition. Wajiro attempted to view Korean architecture as an object Kon (1888–1973) was one of the important proponents of mathematical and scientific investigations. of this tradition. Despite being educated as an archi- The idea of understanding architectural conditions tect, Kon had a different perspective from the views of as neutral and dismantlable objects of visual mainstream Japanese architects in the Tokyo Imperial Figure 4. Wajiro Kon’s architectural drawing portraying Korean people’s life in their built environments (Source: Chosen buraku chosa Tokubetsu hokoku: dai 1-satsu (minka)). Takeuchi argued that Japanese human geography as an independent field of study was initiated in relation to the emergence of localist Japanese consciousness toward the end of the 19th century. See Takeuchi (2000). More ideas on the Japanese human geography are found in the same book; the Japanese human geography used Japanese geographical features to explain how the Japanese had formulated their peculiar living and dwelling conditions. (Ibid., 123). 6 Y. JUNG University, such as Tadashi Sekino and Chuta Ito In particular, Kon’s early architectural drawings of (1867–1954), who mainly focused on analysing phy- Korean minka pioneered the most intimate level of sical forms and styles in architecture. Kon was very visual expression in the early modern Korean architec- interested in discovering intimate relationships tural context by minimising the physical and emotional between people’s lifestyles and built environments distance between himself and traditional Korean set- and, in 1910, he started investigating the Japanese tlements. Further, in his creations, he added explana- vernacular housing minka while travelling in tory texts in the margins, which helped readers expand Japanese areas with groups of archaeologists, folklor- their poetic imaginations by hypothesising potential ists, and geographers. Figure 4. living conditions. His embodied perceptions helped Following the Japanese Government-General of uncover the hitherto hidden stories of Korean domes- Korea’s invitation, Wajiro Kon investigated Korea’s tra- tic life. Kon viewed the Korean minka in relation to its surrounding material and topographical and environ- ditional settlements in 1923 and 1924. In one of the mental conditions, both natural and artificial. Finally, occasions, he gave a lecture on Korean minka to the Kon’s early architectural achievements influenced the Korean public in Gyeongseong, which is the old name architectural perspectives of Kil-Ryong Park (1898– of Seoul. However, Kon’s onsite research intended to 1943), the first modern Korean architect. historicise Korean building traditions as inferior enti- ties. Nevertheless, he was fascinated by the beauty of the peninsula’s architectural conditions. Revealing his 5. Visualising the invisible: architectural inborn talent, Kon produced a large number of meti- meanings of Kil-Ryong Park’s drawings culous hand drawings of not only Korean native living environments but also furniture, clothing, and every- Kil-Ryong Park, who was educated by and who worked under the Japanese, is considered to be the first mod- day living items detailing people’s ways of living. ern Korean architect who emerged from the Korean Consequently, this hands-on exercise became an colonial space in the early 1920s. Because of the dis- invaluable asset for him in developing his unique criminative policies that were prevalent in the office research methodology, which is called Modernology. culture of the Japanese Government-General of Korea, He used this methodology to rebuild the area in the Koreans found it very difficult to obtain permanent aftermath of the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923. government positions. Regardless, Park was able to Izumi Kuroishi studied Kon’s architectural drawings in overcome this issue and started work as an architec- great detail. She opined that Kon was well aware of tural assistant; he was followed by only a handful of a phenomenological approach in understanding architec- Koreans, such as Yi Sang (1910–1937), who later tural conditions Kuroishi (1998). According to her, Kon became the most provocative modern avant-garde formulated his methodology while pursuing his early writer of the time. Due to the nature of the architec- design education at the Tokyo University of the Arts, tural education provided by the Japanese colonial where he came to believe that art could emerge from government, Park was exposed to the positivistic archi- everyday life, due to which he understood the importance tectural knowledge that circulated among the of direct experience of reality. Based on this perspective, Japanese architects working in the Korean peninsula, he developed a unique method to make architectural most of whom were graduates of the Tokyo Imperial drawings of human living scenes by combining it with University. For 12 years as an architectural technician, the act of observing and partaking in these scenes. Park was involved in important governmental projects, Moreover, Kon allowed his readers to actively experience such as the Government-General Building in his readers to actively experience the scenes depicted in Gyeongseong and Joseon Exposition, all of which are his meticulously produced hand drawings, which were known today for their dominant stylistic expressions. rich in material and tactile qualities and found identified Figure 5. the theatrical potential of architectural drawings, which As part of his public service, Park visited many areas told stories on human life situations and depicted atten- in Korea with a Japanese architect Yoshiyuki Iwatsuki, tive architectural moods and experiences. Kuroishi once who first coined the following statement: “Housing argued that Kon elevated hand drawings to the level of resembles people’s lives” Jung (2015). This observation architectural creations. As a process of incorporating Japanese building traditions into a realm of the Western concept of architecture, Chuta Ito invented the Japanese term Kenchiku to indicate architecture. Ibid., 130. By using their creativity, viewers can imagine a series of new detailed narratives on people’s ways of living. Since Wajiro Kon’s first publication on Korean minka came out in 1922, it is most likely that Park already knew about Kon’s analyses on Korean minka. Further, Park mentioned Kon in one of his writings published in 1924. To understand the architectural importance of Yi Sang, see Jung (2018). Previous studies on Park clearly show that he took advantage of newly introduced scientific and utilitarian knowledge to reform traditional Korean housing conditions. Park compared Korean minka to the human body, using functional and biological terms to indicate architectural forms. See Saeng (1928). JOURNAL OF ASIAN ARCHITECTURE AND BUILDING ENGINEERING 7 Figure 5. Renaissance Style design of the Japanese Government-General Building in Seoul designed with the Renaissance Style (Source: Chosen sotokufu shin cyousya syashin zu shuu mokuroku, 1). became very popular in the Korean colonial context of housing conditions by providing design guidance the 1930s. Park’s research trip in 1923 was a very spe- and principles. Park’s architectural drawings of the cial occasion since it enabled him to explore various time clearly indicate that he had progressed from his types of vernacular housing that existed in the Korean earlier joint minka research with Iwatsuki and was very peninsula; these explorations heavily influenced Park’s interested in understanding the architectural condi- architectural ideas to develop Korean housing. As tions of the housing in relation to its physical and clearly specified by Iwatsuki in his article published in immaterial environments by visualising borders 1924, Park was responsible for documenting the char- (demarcations) and thresholds with walls, floors, and acteristics of Korean minka by making several hand doors in a more detailed manner, as well as providing drawings of these houses. The tone of the article indi- orientational ideas for ventilation and lighting with cates that Iwatsuki and Park had common ideas on the suggestions for window placements. Moreover, Park minka’s architectural conditions in relation to their described interior architectural elements to suggest natural and environmental conditions, such as geogra- people’s ideal ways of living in a traditional Korean phical and climatic ones, and the social, cultural, and setting. In particular, he carefully placed modern political situations of the housing’s occupants, such as kitchen wares and supplies by considering their circu- their customs, social status, religions, and political lation and maintenance in the kitchen space and their views. Moreover, they seriously considered personal connection to adjacent internal and external areas, instincts and interests Iwatsuki (1924). As a keen reader such that the design maximises residents’ efficiency and subscriber of Chosen to Kenchiku, the only archi- and well-being. Figure 6. tectural magazine that was regionally published at the Park developed his quasi-scientific interest in creat- time, Park was already well aware of Wajiro Kon’s ing idealistic architectural conditions further in the similar architectural ideas on the Korean minka, which early 1930s. After resigning from his post at the were published in 1922, 1923, and 1924 Kon (1922); Japanese Government-General of Korea, he started Kon (1923); Kon (1924). his own practice in the centre of Gyeongseong In his later years at the Japanese Government- (Seoul) and worked with private clients to build small- General of Korea, Park worked on finding ways to sized projects in 1934. Prior to starting this effort, he reform the Korean minka and contributed articles and was already working on propagating modern scientific architectural proposals to newspapers and journals (hygienic) ideas to the Korean general public by con- to share ideas with not only the educated Korean tributing a series of articles to Korean magazines and general public but also Japanese architects practicing newspapers on how to reform traditional housing. As in the Korean colonial context. It is well-known that part of these efforts, he produced handmade perspec- Park was a member of the Korean Society of Science, tival drawings of interior architectural conditions and and it is certain that he was blessed with a scientific atmospheres, along with detailed plans and sections. mind that aimed to modernise traditional Korean Sometimes, he added annotated texts to the drawings The main media for these efforts were Chosen to Kenchiku and Chosen, both of which were governmental magazines that propagated Japanese colonial policies in Korea. 8 Y. JUNG Figure 6. Park’s architectural drawing of a reformed middle-class Gyongseong minka and its modernised kitchen space (with English text added) (Source: P Saeng, Jungbu joseonjibang jugaedaehan ilgochal (2), 56). to explain his unique architectural ideas. During this precedents, Park’s perspectival drawings comprise period, Park finally understood architecture as “a sapi- fine hard lines lacking any material or real-life qualities, ent working together of writing, drawing, and con- and they create illustrative, didactic, and even futuristic struction lines”. atmospheres by portraying architectural prototypes for designing kitchen spaces. Figure 7. Park developed several unique features in his 6. Visualisation of idealistic architectural visualisations of architectural ideas to design mod- atmospheres lacking real-life qualities ern kitchens. By strictly adhering to perspectival drawing techniques, he intentionally placed the From 8 to 14 August 1932, Park contributed a series of observer on a fixed position outside the scenes articles on methods to reform the traditional Korean where he or she could view them only from kitchen to the most influential newspaper of the time, a certain distance. Figure 8 This is very different Dong-A Ilbo (The Dong-A Daily Newspaper). To easily from Kon’s hand drawings, where the observer is deliver his architectural ideas to a Korean audience, Park completely immersed in the depicted scenes and included perspectival drawings depicting imaginary embodied human perception produces a series of scenes of the idealistic modern kitchen that, he stories on the details of the ways of living. Unlike believed, could play a leading role in reforming tradi- Kon, Park shows what an ideal architectural model tional Korean housing. Unlike their Japanese of a kitchen in the traditional Korean housing should look like and introduces scientific (efficient and hygienic) methods to design it using not only meticulously drawn interior architectural elements but also carefully arranged kitchen equipment and supplies without any clues to human presence. The educational significance of Park’s perspectival drawings is related to their lack of real-life qualities. Unlike Kon (whose animated drawings depict human living in detail), Park never included real moving peo- ple in his drawings, due to which the scenes create an atmosphere similar to that created by exotic and archi- tectural pictures for commercial purposes, which maxi- mally highlight their spatial qualities. On facing them, observers can visualise highly educated and enligh- tened, or idealised, modern human beings utilising technologically advanced spaces with new American Figure 7. Park’s perspectival drawing of an ideal modern kitchen space (Source: Yeoseong, 1(1) (April 1936), 34). lifestyles. In this sense, Park’s perspectival drawings are Marco Frascari once argued that “architecture stems from a sapient working together of writing, drawing, and construction lines”. See Frascari (2009). Several contemporary Japanese perspectival drawings portray modern kitchen spaces. However, they are more realistic since they show traces of human presence in the depicted scenes. JOURNAL OF ASIAN ARCHITECTURE AND BUILDING ENGINEERING 9 very modern in that they propagate the new and negate the old. Figure 9. Furthermore, Park intended to visualise the detailed movements (circulation) and behaviours of the invisi- ble modern person in a paradoxical manner. Accordingly, he described each kitchen item using a textual instruction of its specific use. For example, for the metal basket under the sink, the annotated text reads, it is for collecting garbage; for the hanger placed next to the entrance door, the text reads, it is for putting dish towels; for the closet under the sink, the text reads, it is for storing dishes; and for the table between the entrance and the sink, the text reads, it is for putting knives. By carefully looking at all the kitchen items and reading the relevant instructions, viewers can visualise enlightened human beings work- ing very efficiently and hygienically in the kitchen space. The presence of meticulously drawn small details enables Park’s perspectival drawings to allow viewers to imagine the architectural conditions that exist even outside the picture frames. These include areas blocked from views, such as the storage beneath the floor called mulchi for storing fire stull and food, and the basement under the kitchen hinted by its entrance. Advanced mechanical and systematic technologies can also be understood by the connection of water pipes to the sink’s faucet and that of the ventilation duct to the stove’s metal hood. Furthermore, viewers can hypothesise the air quality and lighting conditions affecting the kitchen’s atmosphere. By imagining the invisible through the visible, they can picture how the kitchen will work in the most controlled manner. 7. Visualising borders, demarcations, and thresholds Park’s architectural drawings reveal that he considered Figure 8. A set of photograph and drawing by Wajiro Kon showing the interior atmosphere of Korean middle-class the surrounding environmental and regional condi- minka (Source: Chosen buraku chosa Tokubetsu hokoku: dai tions while designing modern housing to satisfy their 1-satsu (minka)). basic functions, such as lighting, ventilation, heating, Figure 9. Park’s perspectival drawings of reformed Korean kitchen spaces and technologically advanced kitchen wares with explanatory texts (Source: Jue daehaya [On Kitchen] (5), Dong-A Ilbo, 13 August 1932 (Left); Jue daehaya [On Kitchen] (6), 14 August 1932 (Right)). 10 Y. JUNG of natural light into the kitchen and clear views of the backyard. To provide ventilation, he placed windows facing each other to facilitate natural air- flow in the kitchen. This is the case with the place- ment of the burner and the hood close to the window, as well. These enable the direct eviction of cooking smoke to the outside. Further, Park aligned the kitchen’s floor level with the ground level so that the kitchen became a semi-outdoor space where people could freely move inside and outside through the door. Inside the kitchen, he designed a wooden floor called maru, which is elevated from the bottom; it worked as a transfer space from the kitchen to the adjacent room and could be used as a space to cook and store food, as a semi-kitchen space. Figure 10. Park’s plan drawing of a small remodelled house In addition, Park’s interest in creating borders and its surrounding site conditions (with English text added) and thresholds is reflected in the details of the (Source: Park, Gaelyang sojutaegui ilan, 45). sectional drawing, where there is an in-between Figure 11. Park’s detailed plan and section drawings showing modern Korean kitchen spaces interacting with their adjacent microscopic physical and environmental conditions (with English text added) (Source: Jue daehaya [On Kitchen] (3), Dong-A Ilbo, 11 August 1932 (Left); Jue daehaya [On Kitchen] (4), 12 August 1932 (Right)). and cooling. For this purpose, he created various types space with doors on both sides. This space works of architectural borders and thresholds between inter- as a border and as a connection that is open to nal and external regions through windows, doors, both the kitchen and the room, through which walls, and even floors. In addition, Park created residents can make visual and material exchanges a series of thresholds for the architecture to interact on a daily basis. In the same drawing, Park reveals with adjacent streets and neighbourhoods. It is not how the architecture sits on its ground, as well. He sufficient to simply indicate them as “gates”, as made use of the traditional Korean floor-heating shown by a recent study. Rather, it is important to system ondol; Park carefully considered how to acknowledge that his architectural interests were very design the foundation of the house in relation to diverse in terms of understanding immaterial and the ground to incorporate the ondol system and material conditions. Figures 10 and 11. decided on the placement of the furnace and facil- Park’s microscopic architectural approach to itating the flow of smoke from one end to another. clarify these conditions is clearly reflected in his In this process, it is obvious that he studied topo- detailed plan drawings; he carefully created graphical conditions and functionally designed var- a wide window facing south, to enable the flow ious architectural levels accordingly. See Woo (2016). Woo argues that Park introduced gates in his architectural proposals. JOURNAL OF ASIAN ARCHITECTURE AND BUILDING ENGINEERING 11 and architectural researchers in the pre and post war 8. Discussion and conclusions periods, indicating possible directions for future studies. By understanding the two contrasting architectural knowledges of the time, positivism, and Japanese human geography, as well as the ideas of Japanese Disclosure statement architects who had developed the ideas into their own architectural expressions, the first modern Korean archi- No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s). tect Kil-Ryong Park established unique architectural approaches to understand traditional Korean settle- ments. Based on the contemporary socio-cultural atmo- Notes on contributor spheres that advocated the use of scientific knowledge Yoonchun Jung is an assistant professor at the Hongik School (e.g. efficiency and hygiene) in proposing ways to reform of Architecture. His work has been published at the Montreal every detail of Korean people’s lifestyles, Park’s architec- Architectural Review, Journal of Architecture and tural intentions can be considered highly educational, Architectural Theory Review. and his drawings portray architectural rules and princi- ples to design ideal human living conditions. References Park took advantage of the perspectival techniques that were popular in Japanese sources to deliver his Bafna, S. 2009. “How Architectural Drawings Work - and What that Implies for the Role of Representation in architectural ideas to the Korean general public. 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Journal
Journal of Asian Architecture and Building Engineering
– Taylor & Francis
Published: Mar 3, 2023
Keywords: Korean modern housing; architectural drawings; Kil-Ryong Park; borders and thresholds
