This is the techy future North Korea anticipates

Writers, visionaries, scientists: they've all predicted what the future would be like, some ending up fairly accurate in their estimations, others widely off mark. While we hear a near-constant stream of ideas from many sources, it's not often the insular nation of North Korea is one of them.

A series of paintings were commissioned from North Korean architects by Nick Bonner. The architects were tasked with showing what they anticipate tourism in North Korea might look like in the future, and the end results were images featuring glass pyramids, hovering aircraft, and even a guesthouse that conjures memories of The Jetsons.

Among the designs presented by the architects are pyramid-like structures referred to as artisan communities. The structures, featured in the gallery above, are adorned with solar panels, wind turbines, and spinning wheels. It is said tourists would be able to travel by helicopter, solar trains, or river.

All of the paintings share the same sort of retro flavor, showing off a mixture of angular, near modular, buildings and, at the same time, excessive roundness that harkens to a design style decades old in many places.

SOURCE: The Guardian