Among the winners of the Best Inventor Award in 2023 is Won Song Rim, section chief of the Architectural Science Institute at Pyongyang University of Architecture.

Ahead of Won, it is noteworthy to mention his father Won Ha Ok, Merited Scientist, academician, professor and PhD.

Senior Won (October 10, 1931–May 6, 2000) was the first to develop the theory of nothing heart slab foundation in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

He had a reason to study architecture.

After the country’s liberation in August 1945, he took a teaching post. When the Korean war (June 25, 1950–July 27, 1953) was started by the US, he came to witness his dear home, village and the whole country being destroyed. Burning hatred prompted him to volunteer for the front. In 1951, when the war was at its height, he was recalled from the front to study abroad. President Kim Il Sung , who predicted the victory in the war, was conceiving a grand postwar rehabilitation programme on the table for operational plans at the Supreme Headquarters, which would demand training competent architects as early as possible.

Won Ha Ok successfully finished graduate and postgraduate courses at a foreign university. Back home, he held such posts as lecturer, department head and chief of the scientific institute at what is now Pyongyang University of Architecture, making great contributions to the country’s construction engineering.

The tensile plate foundation method he had developed in the 1960s was introduced into several projects including the Pyongyang Indoor Stadium to prove its effectiveness.

He was both a good father and a strict teacher for his children. He transferred his theories and techniques to Won Song Rim, the third of his six children.

Won Song Rim said that his father had always taken him to his workplace to teach him one by one and his slab foundation method was unthinkable apart from his father’s unselfish assistance.

Junior Won entered Pyongyang University of Architecture in 1980 and further improved his father’s slab foundation theory to have a bachelor’s degree in architectural engineering. His paper “Research on deciding force of sand ground plate foundation by analytical method” came under the attention of academic circles, and his slab foundation method was applied to the construction of the Mangyongdae Schoolchildren’s Palace, helping to finish the project ahead of schedule.

After finishing a postgraduate course, he started to work at the Architectural Science Institute of Pyongyang University of Architecture since 1990.

In 2015, the Pyongyang Municipal Sports Village was under construction. Most of the construction site of a gymnasium was marshland and the foundation construction was based on the churning pile method. The problem was that the method required a great deal of workforce and materials and it would be impossible to finish the project within the planned timeframe.

At the time, Won came up with the tensile plate foundation method in consideration of the topographical features of the area. Many shook their heads, wondering if it could help to bear the tremendous load of structures, but he remained confident. He offered a scientific guarantee, and his method was accepted. As a result, the building operations which would otherwise take several months were completed in a matter of two days. Admiring such a marvellous result, his colleagues lavished praise on him.

As the elastic fibre belt and other materials with a composite structure are widely available, the prospects of the tensile plate foundation method are increasingly bright.

Up to now, he has worked out foundation construction plans for hundreds of projects.

He has obtained more than ten national patents, with his methods highly appreciated at the national sci-tech festivals and symposiums on sci-tech in the construction sector.

Ham Kwang Hyok