Cristiano Bianchi and Kristina Drapic release Model City Pyongyang, a book that features 200 color illustrations of buildings rarely seen by non-north koreans, as well as diagrams and architectural drawings that reveal the planning behind the city’s elaborate symbolism. Discover more about “Socialist Architecture”!
Through Pyongyang buildings, the two Italian architects based in Beijing reveal a city with a strange atmosphere and beauty, between its concrete, its pastel tones, its axes and its symmetry.
‘we wanted to capture this feeling of ‘fictional reality’ by following the techniques used by korean artists when depicting the supreme leaders or sacred spaces,’ say the authors in the book’s introduction.
In the book, Pyongyang is described as a “modern city”. The architects immortalized the original character of the city – which had been completely rebuilt after the Korean War – before a “massive renovation program” started in 2012 changed its atmosphere.
