In the same issue Domus launched a “call for ideas” for the reconstruction of the Ryugyong Hotel, a monolithic concrete pyramid that dominates Pyongyang’s skyline, as a way of opening up a crack in North Korea’s numbing isolation. It remains, however, a delicate topic, and not all interpreted Boeri’s article in the same way.
In September Domus saw the publication of an open letter from architect Jan Kaplicky of Future Sytems: “I always thought that your magazine was about architecture, design, beauty and people… I was shocked, horrified, angry and sad when Domus 882 June 2005 arrived. 22 pages and 3 covers full of North Korean propaganda.”
Should a dictator’s perversely visionary masterplan be examined and discussed in the pages of an international architecture magazine? Can an understanding of architecture’s most nightmarish distorsions, as well as its most beautiful incarnations, be of any use to us today?
On the 30th September (7 pm), Jan Kaplicky and Stefano Boeri meet for an open debate in the Serpentine Pavilion.
Invited speakers include: Amos Gitai, Scott Lash, Armin Linke, Deyan Sudjic, Brett Steele, Eyal Weizman, Julia Peyton-Jones.
London - Great Britain
Jan Kaplicky and Stefano Boeri debate Domus magazine initiative on North Korea
30.9.2005, h. 19
Serpentine Gallery Pavilion
http://www.serpentinegallery.org