Building cities with a cultural identity consists in making cities, which are not unified and standardized but differentiated. As methods for creating the identity of a city, tradition-based urban design and architectural design are effective. Essence is at once crucial value and identity. That is why the identity of architectural culture is important. As the first project for understanding the identity of architectural culture, we need to understand traditional architecture. Around us, we have countless architectural works worth scrutinizing for such understanding.
Hanok is an interesting topic for all Koreans. Any Korean who wants to learn more about hanok can easily get books on it. They include books written by a master carpenter, an architecture professor, an architect, and a writer. And those books treat a general overview of hanok, focus on such design elements or architectural elements as materials, colors, wooden structure, discuss the principles of hanok, describe hanok building, or address royal palaces and traditional hanok.
We should build the ability to lead the global architectural culture by fusing together the merits of the Western architectural culture and those of our architectural culture and thereby developing another version of our unique culture. A lot ofleaming is required to create Korean architectural culture as the 'only one'. Study is about training to know relationship. The relationship among people and the relationship with nature which appear in space constitute the essence of our architecture.