Ondol flooring
Ondol is a heating system hidden beneath the floor. There are different theories on how old it is, but Chinese records state that during Goguryeo (37 B.C.-A.D. 668), an L-shaped ondol that provided partial heating to the room floor was common.
www.korea-heating.eu/_1ondol_eng.php
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ondol
Origin
Use of the ondol has been found at archaeological sites in present-day North Korea. A Neolithic Age archaeological site, circa 5000 BC, discovered in Unggi, Hamgyeongbuk-do, in present-day North Korea, shows a clear vestige of gudeul in the excavated dwelling (Hangul: 움집).
Early ondols began as gudeul that provided the heating for a home and for cooking. When a fire was lit in the furnace to cook rice for dinner, the flame would extend horizontally because the flue entry was beside the furnace. This arrangement was essential, as it would not allow the smoke to travel upward, which would cause the flame to go out too soon. As the flame would pass through the flue entrance, it would be guided through the network of passages with the smoke. Entire rooms would be built on the furnace flue to create ondol floored rooms.[2]
AND...
The famous American architect, Frank Lloyd Wright, was building a hotel in Japan, and was invited to a Japanese family's house. The homeowner had experienced the ondol in Korea, and he built an ondol room in his house. Wright reportedly was so impressed that he invented radiant floor heating which uses hot water as the heating medium. Some of Wright's buildings employed this system.
Ondol is a heating system hidden beneath the floor. There are different theories on how old it is, but Chinese records state that during Goguryeo (37 B.C.-A.D. 668), an L-shaped ondol that provided partial heating to the room floor was common.
www.korea-heating.eu/_1ondol_eng.php
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ondol
Origin
Use of the ondol has been found at archaeological sites in present-day North Korea. A Neolithic Age archaeological site, circa 5000 BC, discovered in Unggi, Hamgyeongbuk-do, in present-day North Korea, shows a clear vestige of gudeul in the excavated dwelling (Hangul: 움집).
Early ondols began as gudeul that provided the heating for a home and for cooking. When a fire was lit in the furnace to cook rice for dinner, the flame would extend horizontally because the flue entry was beside the furnace. This arrangement was essential, as it would not allow the smoke to travel upward, which would cause the flame to go out too soon. As the flame would pass through the flue entrance, it would be guided through the network of passages with the smoke. Entire rooms would be built on the furnace flue to create ondol floored rooms.[2]
AND...
The famous American architect, Frank Lloyd Wright, was building a hotel in Japan, and was invited to a Japanese family's house. The homeowner had experienced the ondol in Korea, and he built an ondol room in his house. Wright reportedly was so impressed that he invented radiant floor heating which uses hot water as the heating medium. Some of Wright's buildings employed this system.
