• Journal of the Architectural Institute of Korea Planning & Design
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• v.34 no.10
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• pp.119-130
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• 2018

In the late 1950s, departing from their unquestioning following of Soviet architecture, North Koreans attempted to discover the specificities of traditional Korean architecture and apply them to their contemporary monuments. This paper examines the ways in which North Korean architects developed their unique version of Socialist realism in the making of Pyongyang Grand Theater. The traditional elements in harmony with North Korea's political ideology-an early form of Juche ideology-and modern building technologies were to be viewed as contemporary elements, and not as a simple revival of the past. This study applies Socialist realism's compositional principle "national in form and socialist in content" to Pyongyang Grand Theater and examines specifically what "socialist content" and "national form" were and how the two were combined in the construction of Pyongyang Grand Theater. By situating the building in the context of localization of Socialist realism which is universal art principle of the communist world, this study contributes to the deeper and wider understanding of North Korea's Modern Joseon Architecture.

• Journal of architectural history
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.65-76
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• 2019

Modern Joseon Architecture is North Korea's unique building style that interprets Korean traditional architecture in a modern way, and its most distinctive design feature is the Paljak roof that decorates the upper part of the buildings. This paper argues that continuous attempts at characterizing the nature of traditional Korean architecture in the late 1950s and early 1960s developed the theoretical rationale for the exclusive use of the Paljak roof in Modern Joseon Architecture. It also argues that the construction of the Pyongyang Grand Theater and the Okryu Restaurant during this period became a decisive moment for the formalization of the Paljak roof. The double roof rafters and gables and the "cheerful yet solemn" roofline were considered as main characteristic features of the Korean roof and the Paljak roof perfectly fits this description. Particularly, in North Korean society where Kim Il Sung became idolized as an impersonalized deity, an anecdote in which Kim Il Sung fixed a prominent gabled roof in the Pyongyang Grand Theater into a Paljak roof has allowed for the roof to gain an exclusive status. Hence, almost all Modern Joseon Architecture since the 1960s accepted the Paljak roof's monopoly position, rather than experimenting with other traditional roof types.