Interview
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Bukchon HRC (House Remodeling Company) Representative Kim Jang-gwon has over the past decade repaired or refurbished more than 160 hanok in Bukchon, Seoul, where a large number of traditional Korean houses are located. With the exception of great masters in old architectural buildings, the simple fact tells us that he is one of the few specialists in hanok. With such a portfolio of renovated hanok, within a few minutes of a walk through the village and he comes across someone greeting him, usually an owner of one of the houses he has worked on. Recently, there has been an increase in the number of commercial establishments using hanok for their business. Those Kim Jang-gwon built are e-Mideum Dental Clinic, Chataigne (a French restaurant), Romane Conti (a wine bar), and Wano (a Japanese restaurant). He says that he was able to receive recognition for his architectural work because of “the right timing.”
He said, “Now, there is a law strictly enforced for preservation of hanok, but the situation was different when I first started the work concerning hanok. I bought dilapidated houses and carried out thorough studies of them. From a social perspective, it is a misfortune. However, for me, it was a great opportunity. Those about to embark on a similar path will not be able to have such opportunities so easily.”
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Kim was able to become a “Bukchon Hanok Jikimi” because of the hanok that were dismantled for modernization. It is ironic of how he became a specialist on hanok.
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He compares hanok to buncheong sagi (a special kind of ware which is coated with white clay first and then decorated with various patterns in free style) rather than pure white baekja (porcelain). In other words, hanok is a buncheong sagi featuring natural beauty despite its roughness and inelegance, rather than a pure white baekja (porcelain) that is neat and refined. In addition, materials used in building hanok, such as wood, earth and paper, are nature-friendly.
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He also has worked with foreign building owners who loved hanok. As he put it, “We once refurbished a hanok later named Hyeonujae at the request of a Frenchman. I still vividly remember many things about it. We were a great team with the clear aim of building a beautiful hanok. We did our best to preserve the original shape of the existing house, but rearranged the overall layout to make it a convenient house to live in, using the daecheongmaru (wooden floor) as the living room and installing a Whirlpool bathtub in the bathroom, which was a result of the creative ideas proposed by our team members. The house owner said that he was very satisfied.”
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He says that the foreigners who live in hanok continue to find new merits about it and are more deeply attracted to it. As he put it, “Very simplistic as it may look, hanok is never boring. Architectural terminologies about hanok are said to be more than 2,000. It indicates that, unlike its outer appearance, hanok is a very technology-oriented building that pays very detailed attention to those living in it.”
Kim Jang-gwon says that one can build a good hanok only when the architecture and the owner both have a vast interest in hanok. One can build a good house when he/she thinks about hanok continuously, as if he/she thinks of the person that he/she loves. At present, he is studying about our ancestors’ spirit and philosophy contained in hanok with a plan to write a book on the subject. Based on his understanding of the spirit and philosophy, he hopes to contribute to the birth of a modern version of hanok and the globalization of it. He is also actively participating in debate sessions concerning methods of the modernization of hanok. It seems as if his love for hanok is becoming greater and greater.
