Sunday, February 10, 2008

[The Chosun Ilbo, January 22 2008] Lee Team Plans to Beautify Korea

The incoming administration is determined to give Korea, often denounced as an aesthetically soulless country, a radical makeover. Lawmaker Maeng Hyung-kyu, who heads the presidential Transition Committee's subcommittee for planning and coordination, on Monday said the “Design Korea” project is “aimed at seeking harmony and balance in urban areas and buildings by introducing the concept of public design."

As a campaign promise by president-elect Lee Myung-bak, a man nicknamed the Bulldozer for his role in creating the concrete jungle in his days as a construction executive, the plan was called the "Designed in Korea" project. It envisages an architecture and urban design subcommittee under the State Architecture Commission, which will be launched in October, and inviting leading international architects to coordinate designs for urban spaces and buildings. As its model, the Transition Committee cited Britain's Commission for Architecture and Built Environments (CABE), an organization tasked with supervising the whole outward look of various public projects

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