Design Technique of a Waterscape in a Water Intake Zone of Donggung and Wolji, a Palace Garden from the Period of Unified Silla

Donggung and Wolji is a palace garden around a wide, round pond built during the Unified Silla Period. The great pond comprises a water intake zone, a pond, and an outflow zone. In articular, the water intake zone comprises waterscape facilities with unique features. By identifying the design techniques of the waterscape in a water intake zone of Wolji, this paper aims to explain the basis for the waterscape techniques used around the pond and to describe the palace garden during the Unified Silla Period. The design technique for a waterscape in the water intake zone was identified through analysis of the restored waterscape facilities and through the investigation results of the excavation in Donggung and Wolji. The water intake zone in the great pond area presents a variety of waterscapes: straight channel, stone basin, small pond, streamy channel, and falls. The straight channel in the artificial geometric form has a linear configuration with three inflection points, where the channel is diverted at a right angle from the starting point. This design follows the axis of the architecture and can be considered a design technique that uses a form affected by the scope of influence of the architecture. The two-step stone basin connecting the upper step and the lower step can be described as a large bowl containing water. The dynamics of water falling from one step to the other is a technique to provide visual and audio effects. The limited space between the flagstone and the external wall around the stone basin forms a waterscape designed as a water-friendly space that gives people easy and direct access to water. The small pond, which has a nearly oval shape with smooth, curved lines, reflects unique design techniques in the revetment construction, bottom treatment, and pumice stone arrangement. It works as a reservoir, supplying a certain amount of water to the falls in the functional aspects of the waterscape. The streamy channel, presenting the natural landscape, illustrates the technique of making the most natural appearance possible in the revetment construction, as the design contrasts with the straight channel. The falls, showing an extreme visual change at the endpoint of the water intake zone, are a design technique that solves the problem of the difference in elevation between the channel and great pond. The falls use a high-level technique in that the location was chosen to avoid complete visibility, thus inducing interest. The variety of waterscape facilities in a water intake zone comprising five stages reveals a design technique that starts from an artificial straight design influenced by neighboring architecture and pursues a natural appearance by gradually moving away from this influence as the design advances.