Doojin Hwang Architects

Architecture and Urbanism in North Korea

Lee Hyung Jae, design principal with Jung Lim Architecture, was invited on March 14th, as one of the guest speakers of 2013 Youngchoo Forum. He talked about the experiences of executing architectural projects in North Korea; his company was commissioned to design the Pyongyang University of Science and Technology. The project was an attempt to restore some semblance of a burgeoning reconciliation between the two Koreas.

The project to build the university started in 2001. It was publicly operational in 2011, ten years after the project started. However, at the time of the opening, the university was just 50 percent completed. This project should have taken only three years to reach that point; instead, it took ten.

Despite the attempt to build an alliance between North and South Korea, there are still regulations that hinder the production. Mr. Lee could not use most of the equipments or materials in his plan because it was difficult to move them across the border. The equipments and materials needed from South Korea could not be sent by land; instead they had to be shipped to Pyongyang via Nampo port. This increased the project budget and time drastically, as much as it would cost from Incheon to Hamburg in Germany! To mitigate the increase in cost, Lee used what was available locally or had the materials and equipments imported from China.

Another potential cause for delay was the North Korean work culture. Everything from people to goods is subsidized by the government. There are no incentives to work harder (for example, everyone at the job site was picking up bricks by hand instead of using wheelbarrows) because the government provides food and wages no matter what the speed and level of production are.

The company had to change the design several times throughout the project life due to the significant differences between North and South Korea. Some buildings’ height and floors had to be reduced because of lack of skilled workers. Moreover, since the project was taking such a long time, technology outpaced the initial design of the building. This required extensive updates and redesign.

All in all, I believe North Korea has a lot more potential in architectural design than it currently is. But there are still several constraints preventing them from it. This can be seen by comparing projects that was built in South Korea and North Korea by the same company, those projects will be surprisingly different. However, not all of North Korea architecture is outdated or unaesthetic. There is the tallest building in North Korea which is quite beautiful in itself. The building is a 150 floor skyscraper which began in 1993. Sadly enough, the building is still an ongoing project.  

As an architect an empty space means an opportunity for design. North Korea has a large amount of open space that is not currently being used.
Therefore, I believe that North Korea will be a heaven for architects worldwide when they open up the country for development.

Ponn Laohasukkasem, designer at DJHA

reference: Space, North Korea and Pyongyang: Beyond Curiosity and Abstraction, 543