Wajiro Kon's Architectural Theory on the Development of Korean Minka and Its Limitations, 1923-24

This paper focuses on Wajiro Kon (1888-1973) and his architectural efforts on theorizing Korean minka in the early 1920s. Wajiro Kon's unique phenomenological approach, so different from the positivistic analyses of his contemporaries, evident in his meticulous sketches and vivid descriptions, helped him theorize how the craft-oriented architectural development of Korean minka were shaped by people's everyday lives. In particular, he found that ondol had developed in various and complex ways, creating differences between the northern and southern Korean regions. Moreover, Kon identified the practical improvements in Korean minka made by inventive, creative people. However, the paper demonstrates that in this process, the new understanding retained the dual perspective of Korean minka as not only environmentally formulated, craft-oriented artifacts but also as re-formed objects that should be improved through an interplay with external factors.