• Journal of the Korean Institute of Traditional Landscape Architecture
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• v.34 no.3
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• pp.50-66
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• 2016

This study attempts to understand and explain how "Directed Attention Restorative Environment (DARE)" is managed and fostered in "Gang-Hak (講學)" and "Yu-Sik (遊息)" spaces both inside and outside of Oksan Seowon Confucian Academy, Gyeongju. Directed Attention is a pivotal element in human information processing so that its restoration is crucial for effective thinking and learning. According to Kaplan & Kaplan's Attention Restoration Theory, an environment, in order to be restorative, should have four elements: 'Being Away,' 'Extent,' 'Fascination,' and 'Compatibility.' We could confirm OkSan Seowon Confucian Academy has an inner logic that integrates two basically different spacial concepts of "Jangsu" and "Yusik" and thus fosters the Attention Restorative Environment. Particularly, the Four Mountains and Five Platforms (四山五臺) surrounding the premises provides an excellent learning environment, and is in itself educational in terms of the Neo-Confucian epistemology with "Attaining Knowledge by way of Positioning Things (格物致知)" as its principle precept, and of its aesthetics with "Connectedness with Nature" as its central tenet. This study attempts to recapture the value of Korea's cultural heritage concerning the Human/Nature relationship; and it may provide useful insights and practical guidelines/grounds in designing today's schools and campuses, where the young people's needs for the Directed Attention- and Attention Restorative- Servicescapes seem to be greater than ever.