The 23rd May 21 Architectural Festival took place at the Sci-Tech Complex in Pyongyang between May 12 and 15 under the sponsorship of the Central Committee of the Architects Union of Korea.

On display at the festival on the theme of “Comprehensive development of socialism to higher stage and Juche-oriented architecture” were 580-odd multi-dimensional formation plans, dozens of pieces of construction equipment and tools and more than 90 pieces of successes in introducing the architectural information modelling technology, which were selected at provincial (municipal) festivals.

The festival was divided into categories of multi-dimensional formation plans, architectural information modelling technology introduction, construction equipment and tools and drawing competition, and judgment was made through expert examination and public evaluation.

According to Jang Il Ju, staffer of the AUK Central Committee, the festival was characterized by the fact that formation plans conducive to the development of rural areas and regional industry held a large proportion.

Many of them were for dwelling houses and public and industrial buildings. In particular, those for rural houses and regional-industry factories were novel in mood.

Experts hailed a design for a rural apartment house which allows the use of efficient and environment-friendly energy including heating by solar and geothermal energy and maintenance of temperature by dint of insulating windows and lags.

Green architectural environment, energy-saving and integrated offices and production systems and others which proved effective in practice were applied to the layouts for regional-industry factories. They drew the attention of visitors as production buildings were arranged in a concentrated way and designed as land-saving ones while ensuring overall unity of architectural mood in keeping with the mission of each building.

The structural information modelling design for a rural house building “Progress”, presented by Rason Municipality, was highly appreciated as it helps improve the work efficiency and accuracy in structural design while avoiding incompatibility between architectural and structural designs, repeated work and manual calculation.

Visitors showed deep interest in a small jig for carrying materials, vibrating wall grinder, automatic no-load breaker, hydraulic bar cutter and other construction equipment and tools.

During the festival, there were also a drawing competition, video show, presentation of experience gained in designing and the dissemination and exchange of latest architectural sci-tech data.