KOREAN HOUSES

KOREAN HOUSES


The basic layout of the Korean house is still to be found in the countryside and in urban areas where the residents have enough money to own the land that its required to preserve the characteristic of the traditional home. The house is built above ground level in an L-shape, with rooms placed side by side along the inside of the wall that surrounds the family courtyard. People therefore step up and into the rooms, and they always remove their shoes before entering.

Some of the rooms connected to each other but all of them open on the inner courtyard, either directly or via a porch that runs it front of several of the rooms. Since the rooms open inward toward the central courtyard and their back walls actually make up part of the outer wall of the enclosure, the perimeter of a Korean house can present a rather plain face to the passerby in the street. The back walls of the rooms may have small windows that look directly out onto the street, but the person can walk all around the outside of the hose and learn very little about who or what is inside. This assures privacy and security. The woman of the household are supposed to be safe from prying eyes and casual encounters with men on the outside, and the wealth of the household is not supposed to be obvious to thieves.

Koreans have a unique system for heating their homes in the winner. The kitchen is built lower than the other rooms. Cooking is done over a fire whose smoke and hot air are fed through a system of channels underneath the floors of the rooms that lead to chimneys at the other end of the house. Since the floors in these rooms are solid rock, mud and mortar, they retain the heat that is channeled through them, keeping the occupants warm throughout the day and night. Korean call these ondol floors, and they are so fond of the system that even in modern apartments they built copper pipes in the floors to carry warm water and achieve the same effect.

The ondol heating system is one reason why Koreans sit on the floor, sleep on the floor, and work and eat low tables instead of raised tables with chairs. At night, the view pieces of furniture are pushed to the side and pads and quilt are brought from the closet and unrolled for sleeping, again on the warm floor. The floor in a Korean house therefore is not really a “floor” at all but a special living surface that’s constantly being cleaned and polished. Stepping on this surface with shoes on would be like stepping on the sofa or bed with shoes on in American house. This is why Koreans always leave their shoes outside the room door or underneath the little porch, if there is one. In fact, it feels s” homes and apartments there is a little entryway designed for taking shoes off and putting them on.