The ductility of reinforced concrete bearing walls subjected to high axial loading and moment can be enhanced by improving the deformability of the compression zone or by reducing the neutral axis depth. The current state-of-the-art procedure evaluating the confinement effect prompts a consideration of the spaces between the transverse and longitudinal reinforcing bars, and a provision of tie bars. At the same time, consideration must also be given to the thickness of the walls. However, such considerations indicate that the confinement effect cannot be expected with the current practice of detailing wall ends in Korea. As an alternative, a comprehensive method for dimensioning boundary elements is proposed so that the entire section of a boundary element can stay within the compression zone when the full flexural strength of the wall is developed. In this comprehensive method, the once predominant code approach for determining the compression zone has been advanced by considering the rectangular stress block parameters varying with the extreme compression fiber strain. Moreover, the size of boundary elements can also be determined in relation to the architectural requirement.