• Proceedings of the Korea Society of Design Studies Conference
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• 1998.04a
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• pp.38-39
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• 1998

• Journal of architectural history
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.21-34
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• 2023

The purpose of this research is to investigate Korean architects' perception of the Modern Movement in architecture in the West during the Japanese colonial period, by analyzing two Korean publications in the 1930s: Park Dongjin's 'Present Architectural Tendency' (Dong-A Ilbo, March 1931) and Hong Yunsick's 'Trend in the Thought of Moderne Baukunst' (Chogwang, September 1937). As a result of the investigation, it is confirmed that the two men welcomely accepted the universal modernity, regarding the rational and functional - rather than subjective expressions of the individual - as the key to modern architecture. Although their perception of the Modern Movement in Western architecture was inevitably superficial due to the limited condition of the Japanese colonial period in Korea, there was an obvious advancement in the latter's perception from the former's, reflecting the progress in knowledge of it over the six and a half years between the two. Therefore, it is argued that their 1930s' writings are meaningful as the first Korean publications that illustrate how Korean architectural circles perceived the contemporary architectural movement in the West.