• Journal of the Korean Institute of Landscape Architecture
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.124-130
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• 2001

We have increasing number of new ponds planned and designed in traditional styles. However, many of the stoneworks at the edges of those new ponds are not the characteristics of our traditional ponds. This study is aiming at surveying and analysing the building techniques of Korean traditional water edges built with stones, by investigating selected ponds in royal palace gardens. This study was conducted through field investigation and literature reviews. Nine ponds from Gyongbok Palace, Changdeok Palace, and Changgyong Palace, which have many well-preserved ponds of various styles, were surveyed. First of all, the building materials (stones), or the kinds and sizes of stones used for the edges of ponds were surveyed. Secondly, construction methods, or the height and techniques of buildings stone walls were surveyed. Major findings were, first, the edges of most ponds constructed with granite Jangdaeseok, usually 120cm-140cm long, and 30cm-40cm thick. The only exceptions were those ponds which seemed to have been influenced by Japanese style. Second, typical pond ages were up-right vertical walls. Granite jangdaeseoks were piled-up 2 stories or up to six stories. Exceptions were Bandoji Pond and Chundangji Pond which had been constructed during latest period(King 'Ghojong' period). Third, heith of stone walls were between 60cm and 220cm. The depth of ponds were about 150cm or less, and the rest of the edge wall height was freeboard. Though the results of this study was not made by precise investigation and actual measurement, they could be fundamental information and data for the traditional styles of the Chosun dynasty Palace. It is believed that continuous researches on this matter will result in important and fundamental data of the establishment of traditional water edges.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Traditional Landscape Architecture
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• v.40 no.4
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• pp.32-48
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• 2022

This study analyzed the construction pattern and historical reality of Gwallamji Pond(觀纜池) in the rear garden of Changdeokgung Palace(昌德宮), which has been received as distorted information and has not received sufficient attention. The main topics consisted of the construction period and reorganization in the pond garden, changes in the installed wooden bridge, the existence of the berthing facility, and whether the plan shape was deformed. The main results of this study can be summarized as follows. First, the Gwallamji Pond was already completed before the Gapsin Coup, which occurred in the year of King Gojong. Since then, the Gwallamji Pond area, including the surrounding facilities, has been neglected for a while and was extensively renovated in the early 1900s. It is difficult to find a clear basis for the suspension and resumption of the Gwallamji Pond construction proposed in the previous discussion. Second, three types of wooden bridges with different shapes and structures were installed sequentially in the Gwallamji Pond. In particular, the second wooden bridge, which installed after the maintenance of the Gwallamji Pond, is judged to be the pontoon bridge depicted in Donggweoldohyeong(東闕圖形), and the railing of the bridge was decorated to symbolize the imperial family of the Korean Empire. The third wooden bridge, which appeared intensively in Japanese colonial era, was a Japanese-style bridge. Third, a berth facility for boarding and disembarking existed on the eastern shore of the Gwallamji Pond. The berth facility is also described in Donggweoldohyeong and it remained until the Japanese colonial period. However, as the maintenance work of the Gwallamji Pond was carried out several times after liberation, the berth facility was gradually damaged, and there are no traces left now. Fourth, The Gwallamji Pond was originally constructed in a planar shape of the Korean Peninsula similar to the present. It is necessary to reconsider the conventional theory that the Gwallamji Pond, made in the shape of a gored-shaped bottle, was renovated in the shape of the Korean Peninsula in Japanese colonial era. Even when the term Pandoji Pond(半島池) first appeared, there was no view that the Japanese intentionally modified the Gwallamji Pond.