Digital Representation Methods and Issues of Traditional Landscape Architecture in Digital Design† - Focusing on the Digital Design Award-winning Works of the 2024 Korea Traditional Landscape Architecture Design Competition -

This study examines methods and issues in the digital representation of traditional gardens, focusing on the award-winning works in the digital design category of the 1st Korea Traditional Landscape Architecture Design Competition, held in 2024. The analysis is framed by two perspectives: ‘the categories of representation’—‘materials and forms’, ‘space and activities’, and ‘soundscape’—and ‘the modes of representation’—‘imitation’, ‘modification’, and ‘creation’. In terms of ‘materials and forms’, the works are characterized by the use of modern materials and geometric or abstract forms, leading to a visual reduction of the material and sensory qualities of traditional landscape architecture. Regarding ‘space and activities’, the private spatiality of traditional villa gardens and practices of contemplation and retreat are reconfigured as participatory experiences in public spaces through video and VR media, while in the ‘soundscape’ category, auditory elements of traditional landscape architecture are implemented in a limited manner and function primarily as supplements to visual scenes. Regarding ‘representational modes’, the award-winning works preferred modification and creation strategies over imitation, reflecting the medium-specific characteristics of digital design and the institutional context of the digital design competition. Based on these findings, this study identifies several critical issues: the risk of reducing the authenticity of Korean traditional villa gardens to visually consumable images, the weakening of traditional continuity due to the predominance of modification and creative strategies, underscoring the need for a balanced use of representational modes, and the limitation of digitally mediated works in fully realizing the multilayered and synesthetic experiences of traditional gardens. This study suggests that the competition serves as an ongoing experimental platform for digitally representing traditional landscape architecture and engaging the public, while exploring its evolving authenticity.