Hanok: liberation from high rises

Yongchuljeong,” a pavilion in Eunpyeong History Hanok Museum in Seoul. A growing number of people are learning how to build traditional “hanok” themselves. / Courtesy of Eunpyeong History Hanok Museum

• Published Jun 18, 2015 6:10 PM KST
• Updated Jun 18, 2015 6:10 PM KST

By Chung Ah-young

“Hanok” or traditional Korean houses, which have been regarded as outdated and inconvenient, are making a comeback as posh and sought-after living spaces.

As the paradigm of residential architecture has shifted from high-rise apartments and Western-style houses to the eco-friendly ones, people’s perception of traditional carpentry, which is required for building hanok, has also changed.

Hanok are built with natural materials such as stone, wood and clay, instead of cement, glass and rebar, and lets in more sunlight and air.

Originally, the hanok consisted of several separate buildings, including the “anchae” (main building) for women, which was located further from the main gate, and the “sarangchae” for men, studying and receiving the guests, which was usually located nearer the gate.

In modern times, the traditional hanok structure has been modified into a simple building with minor adaptations such as Western-style bathrooms.

Even though the hanok is becoming popular again, construction costs are high. Thus, people are learning how to build a traditional hanok themselves to avoid these costs.

Building your own hanok

More people learning traditional houses

Cho Song-hyun’s dream — building his own hanok in a rural area — will soon come true. He currently attends a “daemok” class at Hwacheon Hanok School in Gangwon Province, where he is learning skills for building the traditional wooden structures, including cutting and trimming the wood and designing the structure. Daemok refers to the craft of building the framework of wooden structures and the foundations and outlines of a house.

“Building hanok with my own hands has been my long-cherished dream because hanok make me feel nostalgic about my childhood,” the 61-year-old said. “Now, my children are all grown up and I have nothing to do in my leisure time,” he said.

He traveled across the country for about six months to look for the right school in which to learn hanok carpentry.

“I chose this school for its breathtaking natural environment and its reputation as a renowned traditional carpentry educational institution. I am just beginning to learn carpentry. It’s really fun but difficult,” he said.

Over the last 30 years, Cho has been running his own business in Maseok, Gyeonggi Province, in which he sells electronic supplies for buildings under construction. Thus, before attending the school, he thought he would learn carpentry easily because he was familiar with the construction process.

“As I am learning traditional carpentry, I am amazed by the excellence of our ancestors’ traditional way of construction. I think I am learning more than carpentry — I am learning the ancestors’ wisdom,” he said.

After the six-month course, he plans to work in professional carpenters’ shops for one or two years in order to build his own hanok in the near future.

“I want to settle around Hwacheon for its picturesque and peaceful scenery,” he said.

A growing number of people are becoming interested in building hanok with their own hands. Some, like Cho, are learning the skills to construct a house in rural areas, to which they will retire, while others are learning them to become qualified carpenters, a career that has become attractive in recent years amid the resurgence of hanok.

Consequently, hanok building classes are also gaining popularity among ordinary people, from those in their 20s to those in their 60s. Since opening in 2004, Hwacheon Hanok School has taught carpentry to more than 100 students.

“I came from Jeju Island to learn traditional carpentry,” Shin Jae-yun, 24, said. He has taken a leave of absence from his job in order to attend the hanok construction program, where he is learning the necessary skills, such as choosing the location for the hanok, designing the hanok, drawing the floor plan and cutting the timber.

“My major in college is civil engineering, which is related to construction. I have always dreamed of building my own house. The hanok is the perfect one, I think,” he said.

The students are required to stay at the school’s dormitories for six months while attending the program. During that time, they will learn how to hone the tools to trim and cut the timber for about the first three months and how to construct the trimmed timbers for the remaining three months.

“I love the hanok for the beautiful curved lines of its roof tiles. I am not sure if I can continue to learn hanok building after completing the program, but I want to build my own hanok someday,” Shin said.

The school said the students come from all genders, ages and professions. “The seniors want to build their own house and settle down in rural areas, while the young students want to become carpenters, as the hanok is becoming popular again,” an official of the school said, declining to be named.

The school said it aims to teach students how the hanok has evolved into a modern, alternative residence that has incorporated the conveniences of Western-style houses and new materials to suit the lifestyles of today’s dwellers.

Capitalizing on the trend, hanok construction classes have sprung up nationwide, luring students who are eager to learn traditional building methods. The Eunpyeong History Hanok Museum in Seoul is recruiting students for the second session of its hanok building program from June 27 to Aug. 30. The class is the museum’s representative educational program and is taught by high-profile lecturers and experts. The museum already held the first session of the program from March to May with some 20 students.

“The second session will be a follow-up to the first one, which was very popular because of its diverse field trips and programs. We expect more students to join the second session,” the museum said in a statement.

“It will be a high-level, comprehensive hanok building program, covering both theory and practice,” the museum said.

The classes will run every Saturday from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. and will include around 50 students. They include lectures on the history of hanok and the building process and field trips to royal palaces, such as Changdeok Palace and Unhyeon Palace. Also, master carpenter Sim Yong-sik, who was designated as Intangible Cultural Property No. 26 for Seoul, will lecture on how to make a wooden artwork. Sim is a “somokjang” or a minor carpenter who decorates the interiors of houses and makes wooden furniture.

The Seoul City Government has also been running a hanok construction program since April. The program, which ends in November, consists of lectures about hanok and traditional housing and field trips with master carpenters such as Lee Keun-bok, a traditional roof tiler or “beonwajang.”

Cheongdo Hanok School in North Gyeongsang Province offers three courses — a basic carpentry course that teaches beginning carpenters how to make wooden objects and structures, an intermediate course that furthers the skills of professional carpenters and an advanced course that teaches long-time carpenters how to build hanok. The school offers hands-on programs that teach children and adults about traditional Korean culture programs and hanok building.

Currently, there are some 12 government-supported hanok schools. The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport supports six-month hanok design courses at four institutions — Gyeongsang National University, Myongji University, Chonbuk National University and the Korea Institute of Registered Architects. The Korea Institute for Construction Technology and Education and the Hanok and Culture runs a three-month hanok construction program along with a cultural hanok camp.