A Better Maintenance Strategy, a More Sustainable Hanok: Towards Korean Traditional Public Facilities

Abstract

Currently, user demands for Hanok, the Korean traditional building type, are increasing in Korea, and their use as residences and accommodations are especially booming, while public facilities are rarely built in the style of Hanok these days. One of the most critical reasons for the issue is that Hanok lack usability and are difficult to maintain as a public facilities. Therefore, it is improvement of the usability of Hanok is needed for them to be accepted as public buildings and to set up the maintenance strategy for the style of the wooden structure. This research has defined public buildings in Hanok and classified them into three types according to structural standards. Then, this study analyzed the characteristics of each type, and suggested a checklist for Hanok usability, employing it to analyze the most recent exemplar Hanoks built as results in the governmental research project, monitored them in aspects of the facility management focused on the wooden structure and suggested strategies for sustainability by deriving eight factors in usability and another eight major types of defects to review the current status of the maintenance for the wooden structure. Finally, this study proposed the main direction for Hanok maintenance to establish its strategies for sustainability.