Hanok, a Korean Traditional House

You can feel the profound beauty of a hanok while looking at the whole view slowly by taking a step back. The graceful structure of a hanok standing on the ground seems to demonstrate the honorable personality of the owner.

by kcultureportal

There is a saying that you should be satisfied when it’s 99% perfect because your descendants will continue trying to fill up the lacking 1%.
Even a rich house did not fully fill the roof with tiles.
The lacking areas were filled with gaps from leaving and empting spaces.
Facing a hanok is like facing a person, and looking at a hanok is like feeling the first impressions and deeply ingrained atmosphere of the house.
A hanok stands like a tree in nature where all creations make harmony and embrace each other. Nature energizes the mountains and adds water to streams.
Through the seasons, water, birds, and leaves sing with a hushed breath.
It is nature-friendly and health-oriented.
A hanok allows easy passage for sunlight and wind.
It is cool in summer and warm in winter because of its unique structure of ondol, or Korean traditional floor heating system.
Ondol provides warm air that comes from the floor heated by stones, and the warm air naturally generates convection current. The circulation of air improves blood circulation and strengthens the immunity of the human body.
In addition, red clay walls and traditional paper-covered doors control humidity and absorb delicate sunlight, representing the subtle and warm Korean civilization.
A hanok is a house situated in nature, looking after nature.
The hidden shapes and lines of the house freely cross between the sky and ground along the surrounding mountains.
Like friends becoming naturally intimate from holding hands, a hanok and nature put their arms around each other’s shoulders like old friends.
A hanok is a grand house that makes gentle harmony with the environment. It is not a selfish house that only cares about itself, but a generous house that mingles with others.
A peaceful hometown that people always keep in their minds.
Autumn sprays its gold paint on fields as if yearning with shimmer in someone’s mind.
Traditional houses in various sizes are located in the town and each one preserves its own ground where it stands.
Living in a hanok is making nature a beautiful garden.
Doors and windows become a frame, and nature stays alive in the frame.
When paper covering sliding doors and hinged doors brings warm sunshine inside, the shadows continuously change and affect each resident’s mood.
Living in a hanok is keeping small and big pictures alive.
You can see the traces of deep and elaborate thoughts keeping fabulous views in every single window.
A hanok has open passages without a start or end. Everything is connected to each other.
It does not divide sides and always joins with the outside. It does not separate.
We miss hanoks among the many aimless steps of people.
Hanoks let us face and recognize each other on a small road instead of avoiding, or being hit on a big road.
People make harmony with houses and nature in rounded alleys instead of straight and angulated roads.
A hanok is a friendly house where people live happily together.