1. Reconstruction, Construction, and Re-new construction
Chinese style architecture in East Asia was inevitably born with two basic natures.
The first nature of Chinese-style architecture is characterized by a relatively short lifespan due to the use of wood as the main construction materials. The wood lasts only 10 years when exposed to wind and rain but extends up to hundreds years in appropriate temperature and moisturized conditions. The lifespan of wood may be easily shortened by numerous factors such as insects, fire, lightning, and earthquake, other than the climate. Therefore, wooden Chinese-style buildings are essentially subject to continuous repair and replacement for their maintenance.
The lifespan of wood in buildings is unavoidable due to its nature. On the other hand, the second nature of Chinese-style architecture is indispensably selected from the beginning period of East Asian culture. The world after the death and existence of God was considered unimportant in the past worldview of East Asia. In Europe, which was traditionally governed by dualism that strictly divides the sacred and the profane, the building for the transcendental gods were made of stone signifying immortality, while houses for humans were built with wood and timber which were considered temporary. However, in the tradition of East Asia where such distinction was ambiguous, the palace, temples, and houses were all built with wood and timber. The reason for this was that the buildings in East Asia were not considered transcendental symbols but temporary and consumable goods like clothes and food.
The architecture in East Asia that was made as temporary with finite materials should be continuously constructed and reconstructed. Buildings need be constructed and reconstructed to extend their lifespan or to satisfy new architectural demands. The Nara Declaration of International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) recognized the Ise Grand Shrine in Japan as a masterpiece in the 7th century. However, the existing buildings in this shrine survive as the result of ‘Sikinensengu (式年遷宮)’ that moves and reconstructs the same building every 20 years. The buildings in the shrine that have been exceptionally permanent have repeatedly extended their lifespan without difference.
The term ‘reconstruction’ has been the most commonly used to ‘rebuild the demolished building’. The category range using the term covers the concept of ‘construction’ that installs a new building entirely different from the old one to the term ‘restoration’ that aims to achieve the same shape as in the past. However, mostly the old and new of ‘rebuilding’ works are not completely same, nor completely different. Most of them conclude distinctive relationships and the repetition creates the difference. The term ‘joong chang (重創)’, whose lexical equivalent cannot be found in English, can be referred to as ‘re-new construction’ (the combined term of reconstruction and new construction). Therefore, the term ‘re-new construction’ can be understood as a repeated action that stores new architectural orders on top of the old order, like building the strata by depositing multi-layers of other sediments.
In Korea, some other terms similar to the ‘re-new construction’ are found in the historic documents. The terms such as ‘joong geon (重建)’, ‘joong soo (重修)’, ‘joong shin (重新)’, ‘joong yeong (重營)’, refer to ‘reinstall the building’, ‘repair again’, ‘renew again’, and ‘newly operate’, respectively. Such are slightly different in meaning; however, they are all acceptable if translated into the ‘re-new construction’. The letter ‘joong (重)’ is an important prefix among the aforementioned terms that mean ‘layer’, ‘fold up’, ‘repeat’, etc. Why does Korea use so many prefixed terms? The reason for this is that the cases in which the building is newly built or repaired to break with the past are rarely found according to the East Asian traditions. The old and the new ones are connected with a certain relationship to a greater or lesser extent.

2. Some Cases of the re-new construction of Buddhist Temples in Korea
Buddhism has spread over the Korean peninsula in the mid-5th century. Since then, many royal families in different dynasties have constructed numerous temples around the country. The architectural form of the ancient temple that arranged the gate, the pagoda, the Buddhist altar, and the auditorium in line with the south-north axis was completed between the 7th and the 9th century. Various buildings were attached to the temples due to the diversification of religious beliefs within the Koryo Dynasty (10 to 14 C) that regarded Buddhism as the national religion. New functions and architectural areas were expanded in order to deal with the sociopolitical functions. In this era, the ancient architectural forms were dismantled as many changes transpired throughout the expansion of areas and the construction of diversified spaces, among others. However, the Joseon Dynasty (15 to 19 C) severely oppressed Buddhism, then the religion sects and belief system were merged. In this era, about 90% of the temples were destroyed, the buildings and areas in the survived temples were downsized.
Over a thousand places of historic temples are left in Korea. Some of them survived the historic changes that span from 3 to over 14 centuries. The cases are extremely rare that the temple buildings have completely been preserved since their foundation. Most of them have gone through reconstruction processes such as rebuilding, modifying, and recovering, while others are disappearing in part.
Among many of them, this presentation investigates the re-new construction processes of three temples: Sungsun-sa, Hwaeom-sa, and Tongdo-sa. The study thus discovers the causes of their changes and the focus of their architectural values.

1) Sungsun-sa
Sungsun-sa was built as a resolving temple for the king’s mother who perished in 954. The temple was comprised of two clusters on the south-north axis at the time of foundation. The west cluster became the shrine while the east became the Buddha hall. The temple deteriorated and decayed after the king passed away; it was however re-new constructed when the king’s strain was restored in the 12th century. However, the total scale was reduced by integrating all facilities into one area that only left the west section. The Buddha hall, which used to be located at the east, was re-new constructed when relocated at the west section, heading toward the east section from the old shrine in the west. The entry gate of the temple was moved to the south section of the east corridor.
The old architectural construction axis was the south-north one that connected the south gate, the pagoda and the shrine in a line. However, the new axis was the east-west one that connected the east gate, the pagoda and the the new Buddha hall. A new temple was changed by crossing the new order of the east-west axis onto the old order of the south-west axis. This process allowed the noticeable new order follow the topographic flow, although the conventional order was followed the natural compass points. The geographical features of this temple lay at the west side, which is higher and the east lower. Accessing from the west direction to the east along the stream is thus reasonable. While the original form of the temple followed the ancient style that considered the compass points important, the form of the reconstructed temple followed the medieval style considering the importance of the topographic order.

2) Hwaeom-sa
The Hwaeom-sa was constructed as one of the core temples of the Avatamska sect established in the 7th century. The previous temple adopted the conventional ancient architectural form that displayed the pagoda, the Buddha hall, and the Auditorium in line with the east-west axis. The reason why the temple lay toward the east-west axis was that the centric mountain of this land stood right behind the west. Accordingly, the temple could be accessed toward the west direction after ascending along the east-side valley.
However, the temple started to lose its power due to a nationwide political conflict during the 10th century. The sect then belonged to the other in the end. The change of sect refers to the change of the main Buddha. The Avatamska sect worshipped the Vairocana as the main Buddha, but the newly changed sect worshipped the Sakyamjuni. A principle had been considered that the Buddha hall, which became the place of Buddha, should have been changed if Buddha has been changed. Perhaps, monks in the 10th century might have agonized seriously. Shall we pull down the old Buddha hall to build a new Buddha hall? Otherwise, shall we simply exchange the statue of the Buddha inside leaving the Buddha hall as it stood? The case of the former is involved in redevelopment and the latter in remodeling.
However, the monks chose the third method other than the aforementioned two. The monks remodeled the existing auditorium of the Buddha hall to enshrine the Vairocana and built another building to enshrine the Sakyamuni at the north side of the area. By juxtaposing the old and the new Buddha hall, the new south-north axis crossed the old east-west axis. In other words, the temple was re-new constructed with the third order by establishing two core centers. Access road was also changed. The new access road was selected to counterbalance the two centers. By relocating the exit in the southeast corner of the area, the temple created a visual balance between the two Buddha halls in different scales.
The centric order of the temple reconstructed in the 10th century remains unchanged. The servants’ quarters that obstructed the centric area was dismantled in the 17th century while a couple of passenger gates and pavilions were added to make the accessing path more dramatic. The current view of the centric area blends the scene of two centric Buddhist sanctums and rhythmic composition that connect small and large buildings in between.

3) Tongdo-sa
The architectural history of the Tongdo-sa seems to be more comprehensive. The temple was founded as a core temple of the Precept (Sila and Vinaya) in 646. The temple placed the precept altar that enshrined Buddha’s relics brought from China and made them the centric facility of the temple. Archaeological analysis supports the assumption that there were three independent areas in the temple when founded: the cluster for the altar stood at the far west; the cluster for Buddha hall in the middle; and the cluster for monks at the far east. Each cluster might have had a separate entry.
The temple has been re-new constructed a couple of times; however, the significant spatial changes have been made in the beginning of the 14th century. The three clusters were re-new constructed separately on their own method. The hall of Sakyamuni was located at the center of the western cluster and the altar was hidden behind. Another Buddha hall was displayed in line, fronting the main building of the centric cluster. Two more Buddha halls were built on either side in front of the main building at the far east cluster and organized a yard that were surrounded by three Buddha halls. The passages to these three clusters were integrated into a single path that ran longitudinally from east to west.
The reconstruction of the temples in the 18th century has contributed more positively to the changes of temple compositions. An assembly hall was placed in front of the yard of the east cluster to surround the four sides of the yard. Another Buddha hall was installed in front of two Buddha halls of the middle cluster, while three Buddha halls were aligned in line with the single axis. In addition, many subsidiary buildings were placed around the grand Buddha hall at the west cluster and the temple had three yards to the east-south-west direction. The single access that integrated these three clusters reached the end altar of the grand Buddha hall, bypassing the many external and varying spaces.
As a result, the architecture of the Tongdo-sa is considered an integration of three separate clusters that are constructed differently. The east cluster had the yard to be surrounded by three Buddha halls, the middle three Buddha halls was displayed in line with a single axis, and main Buddha of the west surrounded by three courtyards. Such composition followed a new order that accumulated through many re-new constructions based on the original composition of the temple when it was founded in the 7th century. The additions on the Buddha halls that initiated such re-new constructions are considered the results of religious expansion within the Mahayana Buddhism.

3. Reality, Orders, and Lamination of Time layers
The construction of most Korean Buddhist temples other than the aforementioned three temples have been renewed a number of times for centuries. A few characteristic items are found in the process of the ‘re-new construction’.
First, the direction in the ‘re-new construction’ was determined by the reality of the relevant time and land conditions.
In the middle centuries when Buddhism was fully flourishing, new functional buildings were attached and new sections were extended in the temples due to the increased number of monks and active use of the temples by believers. Moreover, the extension of Mahayana Buddhism encouraged the construction of many Buddhist temples which became the new core in architecture. A number of methods were proposed to address such issue in the architectural space. Major samples took important roles as the shrines became places where people pray for the good fortunes of royal families, schools for educating youth in the regions and stations, and accommodations on the important traffic roads, further, as hospitals, and charity institutes, on top of their religious functions in from the 10th to the 14th centuries. Therefore, many social facilities were constructed in the temples, as they formed separate sections according to functions. Numerous private houses for the religious dignitaries of high ranks have also been built in the temples.
However, most of the temples are limited in its site area. Because a high density of buildings in the cities surrounded the temples, they had no extra land to extend further, the extensions were limited within the existing site area, and the conventional compositions were changed accordingly. On the other hand, the temples in the local regions, which were comparatively affordable in land size, had topographical boundaries mostly surrounded by mountains and streams. Thus, the new extensions of temples should have prioritized topographical matters. Although the existing temples have strictly preserved the ancient architectural styles, such styles should be demolished and recombined.
The second, the old orders were preferentially respected and new orders were overlaid on the top of the ‘re-new construction’. Many cases observe the practice to reuse the existing core facilities such as the Buddha Halls without demolition or relocation. Not only the buildings but also the other facilities such as stairs, stylobates, and pagodas were maximally reused through minimum changes. Further, the wood in the old buildings were gathered and reused with new wood, while some large buildings were demolished and used in constructing small buildings in some cases. Such practice to reuse architectural resources can be considered resulted from economic reasons.
Furthermore, it will be the most important that the practice respects the ancestors’ thoughts established in the previous eras. This can be called the ‘recycling of thoughts’. The previous architectural situations were totally the result of trials and errors committed by monks at the time. No accidents exist in the construction. The previous situations are considered the result of importance critically investigated by someone in the past. In order to reduce the trials and errors in the present, overlaying new thoughts according to the current reality will be the best way, at the same time, while respecting the thoughts from the past.
Lastly, the architectural present are resulted by the accumulation of strata laid through different times in the ‘re-new construction’. The architectural layers in the past do not belong to the past and form the present situation by being harmonized with new layers. Some of the major temples in Korea reveal not only the present buildings but also the overlaid shapes around five or ten centuries ago and even the architectural shapes at the time of foundation. Such buildings still exist as a comprehensive complex in the present time rather than simply taxidermies of the past.
The ‘re-new’ construction of the past has been regarded as the present of the day throughout all time. The buildings overlaid with best efforts of the day have achieved the nowness and are worthy to be preserved in the future. If such can be called the ‘conditions of tradition’, the ‘re-new construction’ is considered an opportunity and a generator continuously creating new traditions.

4. Meaning of the Present
The rapid urbanization of East Asia is grounded on fast development within a short time. Although Seoul boasts its 600-year history, the historical evidence of the city can only be found in a few palace sites. To Seoul, removing the old urban fabrics and construct the new ones will be the most effective method in development. Such redevelopment method turned to be successful in rapidly achieving necessary surface areas and functions; however, it resulted in many trials and errors. The landscapes of the city were uniformly changed ignoring the sense of place, while the public spaces were violated by the selfishness of private-owned lands. The memories of the city just half a century ago disappeared and the hometown that settled from generation to generation lost its meaning. The loss of memories made all oppidans to be nomads wandering around newly developing areas. The quantity of buildings is sufficient; but the quality of urban life that lost its history has not been improved. This is the time to find out other developing methods.
The opposite of redevelopment would be the preservation of the past. However, the past to be preserved disappeared due to the rapid redevelopment that transpired in the 20th century. Thus, the restoration method entered the scene. Chinese term ‘fu yuan (復原)’ originated from the word ‘ hui fu yuan zhuang (恢復原狀)’ which means to ‘recover the original shape’, the kind of activity that recovers the lost past. An actual example can be found in the main palace of Seoul, Gyeongbokgung that was destroyed during the Japanese colonial period. Only 5% of the buildings in the 19th century survived during the period. The Korean government has periodically conducted the Gyeongbokgung restoration project since the 1980s. As a result, the building has now been successfully restored to about 40%. In the process, there have been so many debates. Such included the issues on the historical evidence that the restoration resulted in different shapes from the original, and on the preservation and management, how the empty palace can be utilized.
It may be impossible to restore the palace perfectly. The shape can be recovered with what belongs to the past; however, the time cannot be returned. It is because the time is irreversible. The restoration of the palace merely refers—to be accurate—to a construction of a historic theme park. Even though the buildings and urban fabrics are abundantly preserved, the preservation may have limits in encountering the present demands and future life. The preservation or the restoration methods are considered reasonable in part, but they lack the reality as a whole, like the redevelopment.
Then, is there the third way other than the redevelopment, the preservation, or the restoration? This speech proposes the way of the ‘re-new construction’ to be the alternative. This speech proposes a methodology that accommodates the orders in the past and overlays new orders at the same time. This method is considered for the aggressive preservation as well as the new redevelopment, which will be the only way to retain the sense of history while accommodating the necessity of the present time. In this regard, the master plan that composes by establishing the situations involved in the distant future may not be effective because the forecast slips out of the aim, as the distant future becomes another present time. The tradition of the day should be reinterpreted on the way of another ‘re-new construction’, and plans grounded on the reality of the day should be established and practiced. The ‘re-new’ construction should last.