An Inference of Plot Design Method Applied to Pavilions in the Rear Garden of Changdeokgung Palace as World Cultural Heritage

Abstract

Background and objective: It is necessary to study traditional plot design methods or manners that the engineers in Joseon Dynasty were inferred to have conventionally applied to garden spaces or buildings. This study aimed to infer a conventional plot design method practiced by the engineers who created pavilions in Joseon Dynasty.Methods: The four pavilions were selected, whose original design drawings or documents are still unavailable to reveal the method or manner. The actual measurement plot design layouts measured and drawn on the spot by Cultural Heritage Administration (CHA) were analyzed. A geometrical approach was adopted to infer a method that drew the plot design layout on the ground using only non-gauged rulers (or strings). In the analysis, basic figure frames such as circles or lines were overlaid on the actual measurement drawings, and whether they matched was checked. Then, we inferred the sequential processes of the plot design method to implement the layout on the paper or the ground.Results: It was inferred that the plot design layouts of the four pavilions might have the same method. The results suggested that the engineers in Joseon Dynasty, without accurate numeric scale bars or protractors, might apply a geometrical method to determine the position of each pavilion pillar with the figures and intersections created in composing two identical circles overlapping by the radius. Two drawing processes implemented by the method inferred to reproduce the layout of Buyongjeong pavilions with a complex structure coincided with the actual measurement plot design drawing.Conclusion: The result could infer a plot design method and process applied to the four pavilions in the Rear Garden of Changdeokgung Palace in Joseon Dynasty. It may be a drawing method using string as a numeric scale bar or protractor, which could be used to interpret and reproduce the plot design of traditional Korean garden pavilions built in Joseon Dynasty.