| Title |
Office Space Shortages in Bu (府) under Japanese Colonial Rule and Administrative Responses by the Government-General of Korea and Bu |
| DOI |
https://doi.org/10.5659/JAIK.2025.41.7.313 |
| Keywords |
Establishment of Bu; Adaptive Reuse of Bu Office; Daejeon-bu; Jeonju-bu; Gwangju-bu; Seongjin-bu; Official Document of the Government-General of Korea |
| Abstract |
This study examines the administrative procedures through which the Government-General of Korea repurposed existing buildings as
government offices for the newly established bu (府) in 1935 and 1941. Rather than establishing comprehensive architectural plans, the
Government-General tended to rely on utilizing existing structures, aiming to meet administrative demands with minimal expenditure. The
study also focuses on how the Government-General responded passively or with delays when each bu requested the construction of new
office buildings or the expansion of existing ones. Faced with these institutional constraints, each bu developed its own strategies to secure
office space, depending on factors such as the conditions of the city in which the bu was located, the status of available land for office
buildings, and its financial capacity. However, since the Government-General retained the authority to approve all construction of bu office
buildings, each bu continued to suffer from space shortages until Korea’s liberation from Japanese colonial rule in 1945. This research
analyzes official documents from the Government-General of Korea held in the National Archives of Korea. The findings reveal that while
the Government-General maintained a passive and indifferent architectural policy, the local administrative bodies of each bu responded
actively to spatial challenges in practical and localized ways. |