North Korea is famous for its secretive, conservative nature. Its formal attitude reflects in its architecture. Some might say that architects of the region lack taste. But, a new photo series will change the world's perception about architects of the region.
Koryo Tours, a Beijing-based travel firm that organizes tours in North Korea, gave an open brief to the architects to draw up the country's architectural future and the results were breathtaking.
The architects, who chose to stay anonymous, were from the Paekdusan Construction and Architectural Research Institute.
"The architect who led this project for us drew upon his own thoughts and experiences," Nick Bonner, the co-founder and mastermind of this project explained in an exclusive interview with CNN. He added that there was hardly any exposure of contemporary architecture in the country.
"All architects (in North Korea) are trained at the University of Architecture and all work for the government. There are no private projects."
But that doesn't mean opportunities are lost.
"In a way, it's not much different than working for a council -- limited projects, but the better you are the more chance you have of working on more interesting projects, and the more chance of influencing design," Boner added.
The team conceptualized a series of drawings depicting what the future of the country's cityscapes would look like, if there were no political, social or financial barriers.
While some of the pictures are more rooted in reality, some took flights of fancy, literally! Set in a color scheme that looks similar to that of the Disney movie "Pocahontas," the interesting series are now on display at the Korean pavilion in the Venice Architecture Biennale.
One of the pictures shows cone-shaped glass buildings that look like tents while another shows homes that double up as hovercrafts. There are structures on stilts and high, suspended bridges that would make one feel like they were walking on clouds.
Take a look at the picture gallery here.
While these are just renderings of a possibility from North Korea's vantage point, others are already at work giving life to their imagination. For instance, the proposals for the Dragonfly building in New York and Zaha Hadid's signature space-inspired buildings.
Indeed, an architect's mind is a world of fancy. If one could ever take a walk into that creative, brilliant mind, we would probably find the craziest and perhaps impossible ideas in them. Last year, Jody Brown, an illustrator and architect drew up some diagrams that explained the mystery behind an architect's brain. Read more here.
