Image Making As a Planning/Design Principle: A Case Study of Andong Municipal Museum Complex (AMMC)

This study addressing the underlying strategies for Andong municipal museum complex development is in timely view that Andong has obtained a worldwide reputation as a treasury of traditional Korean Confucian culture. Thus far, there has been a tendency that various local museums are proposed to meet architectural aspirations architects and users commonly hold. Overall, though, the major role they play in making overall city image has not been considered in a systematic manner. Based on Lee's (2001) two previous studies, this study summarized the utility of cognitive distance and cognitive map concepts, which are proposed by Kevin Lunch (1976) to evaluate city image, in planning Andong municipal museum complex (AMMC). Sample is stratified into city residents and outsiders, and also into the general public and design-related professionals to see if there is any group difference in constructing their mental image. Three major findings are obtained. First, familiarity, so-called the degree of knowing, is the function of the length of stay in a designated area. That is, the longer people stay in Andong, the more likely they are familiar with its overall environmental aspects. Second, mental proximity of Andong municipal museum complex relative to existing cultural landmarks is closely related to the degree of how people value those landmarks in terms of their significance. Dosan Seowon and Hahoe folk village are most highly valued, which means higher proximity. Third, functional diversity turned out to be the most important design dimension, while display mechanism are least valued. Cognitive simulations of this sort are meaningful in that projected composite image might be a rough first approximation of true public image.