Korea - Bukchon Hankok Village
I spent an afternoon wandering up and down the lanes of Bukchon a neighborhood which contain several clusters of traditional “hanoks” in the midst of the modern skyline of Seoul.
My starting point was the Bukchon Traditional Culture Center on Gyedong-gil alleyway where I picked up a beautiful map of the area illustrating all of the cultural sites and each individual hanok. There are somewhere around 900 hanok's in the Bukchon area.
One principle of feng shui states: "North high - South low." The Bukchon area backs onto a mountain to the north and the houses are stacked down the hill like a movie set. All the hanoks face south, to absorb maximum sunlight in the winter. The kitchens face east - traditionally women would wake early to prepare food and the sun's rays were believed to have anti-bacteriological effects on ingredients. Another interesting principle is that everything in the bedroom should be low to make sure the energy does not drain from your body. According to Korean beliefs, when your bedroom is low, you sleep very soundly. I learned lots of interesting housing design tips to keep in mind should we ever decide to build a house.
My starting point was the Bukchon Traditional Culture Center on Gyedong-gil alleyway where I picked up a beautiful map of the area illustrating all of the cultural sites and each individual hanok. There are somewhere around 900 hanok's in the Bukchon area.
A hanok is a traditional Korean style house whose design is based on "baesanimsu" the Korean equivalent to “feng shui”.
"Materials, proportions, orientation and function are all considered and utilized to create the most pleasant living environment possible. "
Bukchon is a beautiful area of Seoul to explore and I enjoyed spending the afternoon walking through the old neighborhoods in awe of the beautiful old homes and the simple peacefulness of the feng shui architecture.
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Korea
Picturesque really like the design ideas!