North Korean exhibition at the Venice Architecture Biennale
Peking - What happens when a North Korean architect is given a free hand and starts designing the buildings of the future? The answer is provided by the North Korean exhibition at the Venice Biennale of Architecture. According to CNN, the DPRK's contributions made it there thanks to the Beijing travel agency Koryo Tours, which approached one of the North Korean architects four years ago to create designs that would enable the development of tourism in his country.
Koryo Tours organizes guided tours to the DPRK and offered the opportunity to an anonymous North Korean who works at the architectural institute in Pyongyang. He was given complete freedom and was not to concern himself with cost, scale, or dimensions.
Several surprisingly gaudy designs have emerged, bordering on the massive structures of the Soviet era and children's animated series. Nick Bonner, who is behind the initiative, says that North Koreans are minimally exposed to modern architecture. "The one who made the designs for us worked based on his own ideas and experiences," he said.
The path of an architect in the DPRK is predetermined. Everyone graduates from university in the field and then all work for the government. Private projects do not exist. "The better you are, the greater chance you have to get to interesting projects and influence their design," Bonner said.
Some of the designs from the contacted, yet unnamed North Korean creator are anchored in reality, while others are set in a distant future. For instance, a hotel designed for the coastal city of Nambo, which currently lacks any accommodation facilities, stands majestically above the water's surface on tall columns. A dreamlike creation is a house that can also serve as a hovercraft. The unknown designer also proposed an ingenious bridge as a transport solution in the Mjohyangsan mountains. Those who enter it in the morning will walk above a foggy haze as if in heaven, the creator describes. There is also a mountain villa with an atrium that allows residents to communicate with each other from different floors.
Bonner noted the initial reactions in Venice. Some consider the North Korean part of the exhibition to be "kitsch," while others see modernity, humor, and several good ideas in it. The North Korean designs are displayed in the Korean pavilion until November, when the biennale ends. Koryo Tours will organize a seven-day trip to the DPRK focused on architecture in October.
Koryo Tours organizes guided tours to the DPRK and offered the opportunity to an anonymous North Korean who works at the architectural institute in Pyongyang. He was given complete freedom and was not to concern himself with cost, scale, or dimensions.
Several surprisingly gaudy designs have emerged, bordering on the massive structures of the Soviet era and children's animated series. Nick Bonner, who is behind the initiative, says that North Koreans are minimally exposed to modern architecture. "The one who made the designs for us worked based on his own ideas and experiences," he said.
The path of an architect in the DPRK is predetermined. Everyone graduates from university in the field and then all work for the government. Private projects do not exist. "The better you are, the greater chance you have to get to interesting projects and influence their design," Bonner said.
Some of the designs from the contacted, yet unnamed North Korean creator are anchored in reality, while others are set in a distant future. For instance, a hotel designed for the coastal city of Nambo, which currently lacks any accommodation facilities, stands majestically above the water's surface on tall columns. A dreamlike creation is a house that can also serve as a hovercraft. The unknown designer also proposed an ingenious bridge as a transport solution in the Mjohyangsan mountains. Those who enter it in the morning will walk above a foggy haze as if in heaven, the creator describes. There is also a mountain villa with an atrium that allows residents to communicate with each other from different floors.
Bonner noted the initial reactions in Venice. Some consider the North Korean part of the exhibition to be "kitsch," while others see modernity, humor, and several good ideas in it. The North Korean designs are displayed in the Korean pavilion until November, when the biennale ends. Koryo Tours will organize a seven-day trip to the DPRK focused on architecture in October.
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