This paper is a review of the construction process, craftsmanship, architectural economy of Bungang Seowon through the Changwon Ilgi(diary). The Bungang Seowon, which was built in the early 18th century, was initially built as a shrine, but was later completed as a seowon upon the decision of the scholars. It was the descendants of Nongam and the Hyanggyo, Seowon, and the government offices that provided economic, human and material support to the construction of Seowon. The small building of Bungang Seowon was run by a civilian carpenter, while the large building was run by a monk carpenter. The mobilization of the building workers was done by local scholars assigning the number of workers needed for each village.
The purpose of this paper is to reconstruct the original floor plan and wall design of Seokbulsa Grotto in Kyungju; commonly known as ‘Seokguram’. The paper presents an array of dimensional studies of the existing Seokguram to examine its architectural form, and infers the original floor plan and wall design of Seokbulsa Grotto. Seokbulsa Grotto is designed as a system of 'coherent modules' and was constructed using the dry stone method, which interlocks large stone modules into a whole that becomes the load-bearing structure itself. The design principles governing Seokbulsa Grotto are the spatial axis of symmetry, modular coordination, and the layout grid of a quarter Tang-Ruler(TR: 唐尺). Dimensional studies were conducted with these governing principles in mind and concludes the following about the original floor plan design. In the main chamber, Ansang-stone’s radius is 12 TR, and Flagstone’s radius is 121/4 TR. In the front chamber, the width between the two Ansang-stones facing each other is 22 TR and the longitudinal space depth is 12 TR, while the width between the two Flagstones facing each other is 221/2 TR and Flagstone’s depth is 12 TR. In the passageway, the width between the two Ansang-stones facing each other is 111/2 TR and longitudinal space depth is 9 TR, while the width between the two Flagstones facing each other is 12 TR and Flagstone’s depth is 73/4 TR. The distance from the center to the entrance line of the main chamber is 101/2 TR. Therefore, the total longitudinal length of the Grotto is 431/2 TR at the level of the Ansang-stones, and 44 TR at the level of the Flagstones.
A dapo type bracket system which consists of chuganpo(柱間包) and chusangpo(柱上包) with a fake-beam adopted a nemok-dori member to cope with oemok-dori member in order to obtain balance between the outer-side and the inner-side of the bracket system. The middle part of the longest rater in the dapo system is supported by three points made by oemok-dori, jusim-dori and nemok-dori members and the area between the rafer supporting points forms a supporting area. The increase of rafter supporting points and supporting area leads to heightening the structural stability and the efficiency of load delivery. In the eave of dapo system the portion where the three supporting points formed by oemok-dori, jusim-dori and nemok-dori members shows as 33% in the early period, 71% in the middle period and 78% in the later period. On the contrary the portion where more than one of the three dori members were omitted shows as 67% in the early period, 29% in the middle period and 22% in the later period. This is the result of the increase of the number and the distance of steps in the dapo bracket system as time goes on. This is because the structural role of three supporting points becomes important as the increase of distance between the dori members leads to the increase of load which burdens on each dori member.
Southern Royal Villa served as an accommodation for the prince in early Joseon Dynasty, and as an official residence and banquet room for Chinese diplomats in the later period. It was facing south and was located at the southern part of the old town of Seoul and to the north of the Southern Gate. The place was divided into four parts: the outmost, the middle, the inner-middle and the inner part beginning from the south and with important buildings placed in the inner part. The residence for the first and the second highest diplomats was situated at the northernmost location. The residence for the highest diplomat was a two-story building. On the west side of the residence was the large scale Western Banquet Room. It consisted of a single wide hall suited for a grand ceremony, and had the greatest formality and solemnity. On the southwestern side of the diplomatic residence was a building which was called Momchae before the early 17th century and Namru(南樓) after the 19th century. Namru in the inner-middle part is the half-sized remnant of Momchae, which used to be the largest building in the Southern Royal Villa. The title ‘Momchae (meaning Main Buildling)’ signifies that the building represented the entire Villa when it was built as an accommodation for princes. The layout of the Villa in early Joseon Dynasty, which was centered around Momchae, is highly likely to have been a common structure of royal villa for princes during the period.
This paper attempts to study on the substantial characters of the sangryang-muns written for the constructions of Sudara-jang and Beopbo-jeon at Haein-sa in the years of king Gwanghae and king Injo. On that basis, it also attempts to declare the first time that the Buddhist Order firstly used long sangryang-mun, and to presume the backgrounds of the constructions. The results are as follows:
First, the queen, Mrs. Ryu and court ladies of king Gwanhae had participated as donators to the constructions. Therefore, it is supposed that the constructions had been promoted by the queen's Buddhistic beliefs as well as the commemoration of the 6th award of eulogistic posthumous title to king Gwanghae.
Second, throughout the history of Korean Buddhism, long sangryang-mun was firstly used in the construction of Sudara-jang. Therefore, we can see the fact that long sangryang-mun was introduced to the Buddhist Order, as donation by royal families. But the long sangryang-mun couldn't be suitable for the traditional customs of Buddhism, the monks wrote additionally the Balwon-mun, so to speak, the pryer address.
Third, the sangryang-mun of Beopbo-jeon was written in the mixed format of long sangryang-mun and traditional Balwon-mun. It is supposed that the Buddhist monks wanted to keep the traditional customs.
Four, in the late period of J oseon dynasty, the same formats as the sangryang-muns of Sudara-jang and Beopbo-jeon have been widely used in the various Buddhist buildings. Consequently, it is supposed that these three sangryang-muns were the embryonic formats for the major types of the late Buddhist building sangryang-muns.