Housing
It is generally believed that Paleolithic man began to inhabit the Korean Peninsula about 40,000 to 50,000 years ago. Neolithic man appeared in Korea around 4,000 B.C., with signs of their active presence around 3,000 B.C. being found across the peninsula. It is believed that these Neolithic people formed the ethnic stock of the Korean people. Neolithic people dwelled near the seashore and riverbanks before advancing into inland areas. The sea was their main source of food. They used nets, hooks and fishing lines to catch fish and gather shellfish. Hunting was another way to procure food. Arrowheads and spear points have been found at Neolithic sites. Later, they began to engage in farming using stone hoes, sickles and millstones.
Rice cultivation started during the Bronze Age, which lasted in Korea until around 400 B.C. People also lived in thatch-covered pits, while dolmen and stone cist tombs were used predominantly for burials during the period.As agriculture became a principal activity, villages were formed and a ruling leader with supreme authority emerged. Law became necessary to govern the communities. In Gojoseon (2,333 B.C.-108 B.C.), a law code consisting of eight articles came into practice, but only three of the articles are known today: First, anybody who kills another shall immediately be killed. Second, those who injure another’s body shall compensate in grain. Third, those who steal another’s possessions shall become a slave of their victim.
Hanok were built without using any nails and were assembled with wooden pegs. Upper-class houses consisted of a number of separate structures, one for the accommodation of women and children, one for the men of the family and their guests, and another for servants, all enclosed within a wall. A family ancestral shrine was built behind the house. A lotus pond was sometimes created in front of the house outside the wall..
The form of the houses differed from the colder north to the warmer south. Simple houses with a rectangular floor and a kitchen and a room on either side developed into an L-shaped house in the south. Hanok later became U- or square-shaped centered around a courtyard.
From the late 1960s, Korea’s housing pattern began to change rapidly with the construction of Western-style apartment buildings. High-rise apartments have mushroomed all over the country since the 1970s but the ondol system has remained popular with heated water pipes taking the place of smoke flues under the floor.
Han Ok (Traditional House) Hanok, traditional Korean houses, are environment-friendly establishments as they are built with materials readily available in nature, such as wood, earth, stone, straw, clay (for ceramic roof tiles), and paper. The two major types of hanok are giwajip (houses with tiled roofs) occupied by the nobility and chogajip (houses with straw-thatched roofs) inhabited by the peasantry. The most distinctive difference between these two types of houses is the roof. As suggested by their names, the giwajip is covered with tiles called giwa . Such houses were expensive and not considered affordable by the common people. A chogajip has a straw-thatched roof, which was a bountiful by-product of rice cultivation. Although the chogajip is a rare sight today, some Koreans still live in giwajip.In order to build hanok, wooden pillars and frames are set up. Then, bricks made of earth and grass are used to fill in the frames. Floors are made of stone and earth. Hanji (traditional Korean paper) is pasted on the wooden window frames and doorframes. Walls are also finished with hanji. For the flooring, oil-coated hanji is plastered. Hanok constitute an important part of Han style because of their unique, yet very scientific heating system called ‘ Ondol (Traditional Heating)‘. The ondol system includes a firebox below and flues that heat the entire floor from below. To accommodate the ondol system, the floor of the hanok was elevated above the ground, and rooms were made relatively small to maximize warmth. Since floors were heated and warm, people did not use beds or chairs and liked to sit or lie down directly on the floors, as is still commonly done today. Today, in modern Korea , many use beds and chairs in Western-style apartments and buildings, but the floor-heating ondol system is still used in all residential buildings. Because people generally sit on floors, you must take off your shoes when entering a Korean home. Many people in Korea have recently begun to suffer from modern skin diseases, such as atopic dermatitis. Ever since the release of scientific findings that the environment-friendly hanok (or yellow soil house) is good for atopic dermatitis and has various other health benefits, many retirees or those building new homes in provincial areas have built hanok. Enough hanok have been preserved in many places that some Koreans still continue to live in them. In addition, Hanok Living Experience Centers have been opened in many parts of Korea for those who would like to experience living in traditional Korean houses. Major facilities include Jeonju Hanok Village, where you can experience both traditional culture and hanok; Haehoe Village, a representative traditional village in Andong where traditional heritage is well preserved; Jirye Art Village; Suaedang; Imcheonggak; and Rakkojae in Seoul . |
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Variation of Korean Housing
Korean housing is divded into three types; apartment, private house, and villa.The housing types also differ from individual economic conditions and have various sizes of housing.
As mentioned above, all types pf houses have ondol, an underfloor heating system, where hot water is piped through the floor boards unlike wood-burning system in the past. Ondol system is considered healthy and good for aged people.
High-end apartment
Basic apartment
High-end Villa, low-rise
Normal Villa, low-rise housing
High-end Individual House
Individual House
Old Style Korean House
Deprived area