Abstract
The purpose of this study is to look into the weight-lightening phenomenon of the roof structure of some Hanok(韓屋), the Korean traditional houses found from the survey on the distribution and actual state of urban traditional houses existing in the whole region of Jung-gu, Daegu, Korea. As a result of judging from the pre-test of building registers for the research area, approximately 5,000 wood structure houses were found. A field data survey based on these findings showed that there are 1,752 Hanok houses. And the further classification of the Korean traditional houses by roof structure type shows that about 35% of them underwent weight lightening. While this kind of light-weight Hanok is different from the concept of traditional Hanok, they also show the survival method of Hanok that reflects the economical and technological phases of that period. It is expected that deeper understanding on the urban traditional houses will be possible through carrying out in-depth researches on techniques of the light-weight roof structure of the urban traditional houses that are supposed to have functioned as dwellings as commercial products.