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Chinese professor constructs his own mountain atop Beijing penthouse

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GK86

Homeland Security Fail
Edit -

He put in a swimming pool and put his own elevators up there, too.
http://beijingcream.com/2013/08/wealthy-quack-beijing-rooftop-villa-is-an-asshole/

And Al-Jazeera video (includes photos of another building with a couple of houses built on top):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zT0Ca8CGQvI


Throw me off if old.

Top this one, Trump.

A Chinese professor built a mountaintop getaway on top of a towering apartment building in Beijing.

Professor Zhang Lin’s rock-covered villa had the height right — it sits 26 floors up — but the home is dispensed with the rest of the mountain, Yahoo! News reported.

The tower residents left to hold up their ambitious neighbor’s dream penthouse were less excited to see the new addition.

The heavy construction cracked their walls and caused leaks, according to some neighbors. A few worry the entire building could collapse.

There are also questions about whether the professor obtained permits for the work.

'This was originally a small attic when he bought it,” a neighbor said. “But he tore that down and built this mountain on top of us.”

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Savitar

Member
I can't see that being good for the ceiling at all, if it all doesn't cave in at some point I'd be astonished.
 

fallengorn

Bitches love smiley faces
Looks nice, but talk about fucking your neighbors over. (And possibly yourself, when everything crumbles down.)
 

dan2026

Member
How in any fantasy land do you get planning permission for that monstrosity?

When (not if) that shit collapses, many people are going to die!
 

Derwind

Member
While that looks absolutely freaking awesome. I don't see how this is structurally sound.

This is like a super villains hideout.
 
Well, its probably not real rock, so maybe not as structurally compromising as you'd think. That said, the building was definitely not constructed with a fucking rooftop mountain in mind.

Dick move by this guy, and I hope people don't get hurt. But damn it does look pretty awesome.

Why does a professor have enough money to make something like that?
 

Shiz86

Member
Wow. How can they allow him to build that thing on the roof?!

Looks like it would have great views but I would be a bit worried about falling off when outside. It looks like you would stop rolling and start plummeting a bit too quickly.
 

numble

Member
Somewhat related, the phenomenon of illegal rooftop structures in Hong Kong:
http://www.cnn.com/2011/11/01/world/asia/hongkong-rooftop-slums

According to the latest Hong Kong census from 2006, there are 3,962 rooftop dwellers in 1,556 households in Hong Kong. Mostly found in old urban areas in Kowloon -- Sham Shui Po, Kwun Tung and Tai Kok Tsui -- the houses are crammed together so tightly that they form their own above-ground streetscapes, complete with gardens, playgrounds and places of worship.
The slums are a hangover from the housing crises of the 1950s and 1960s when successive waves of refugees from mainland China set up squatter cities in Hong Kong. Many of the residents have lived in the slums for more than 30 years, and new arrivals tend to be underprivileged migrants from either mainland China, Pakistan, Nepal or other parts of Asia.
 
No way the building will support that, he should be arrested. He's pretty much building a tomb for every person in that building. What a fucking psychopath.

I used have nightmares about my building falling down when i lived in a tower block in Bangkok coz I didn't trust building codes and construction companies. Then I'd turn on the news and see some floor in a mall collapse or a bridge. :/
 
If I lived in that building I would run to the elevator, get downstairs, go outside, get more than 200 metres away and hire some movers to get my shit out of my appartment.
 

Funky Papa

FUNK-Y-PPA-4
I have to wonder how much money does he have. So much space in Beijing must cost a fortune, not to mention building that heap of crap on top of it.

And yes, that's probably glass fiber, so it probably weights much less than it looks like.
 

Arthrus

Member
That's one helluva penthouse. It's too bad this is extremely dangerous, since I would love to see more stuff like this.
 

numble

Member
Looks like he's not actually a professor, and owns a national chain of acupuncture clinics:
http://www.scmp.com/news/china-insi...-builds-illegal-rooftop-villa-apartment-block

...

Beijing's chengguan, or urban management, officials on Monday issued an ultimatum to a former government advisor to tear down the the sprawling structure that he had built over the last six years on top of his top-floor flat. The rooftop house features elaborate fake rocks, real trees and grass, and covers the entire top of the building. Parts of the structure look as they could spill over the edge of the roof at any time.

The bizarre two-storey structure, located in a high-end residential compound called Park View in Beijing’s Haidian district, an area of government institutions and universities, has bothered the building’s residents for years. Local newspapers have identified the owner as Zhang Biqing, a former member of a district People's Political Consultative Conference who owns a national chain of acupunture clinics.

Disturbed by constant noise from heavy construction machinery working on the roof, water leaks and worried about structural damage to the whole building, neighbours have complained repeatedly to the building management company, local urban management officials and even the police. The new ultimatum, published Monday evening on many local news sites, urges the owner to dismantle the structure himself within 15 days. Failure to comply would result in forcible demotion, it says.

When confronted earlier by reporters from local newspaper Beijing Morning News, Zhang, who sometimes identified himself as a professor, had said, “Since I dare to live here, I am not worried about complaints.

...
 

LOCK

Member
Cool idea if the building was originally built for this in mind, but as an addition...I wouldn't live under him.
 

Tuck

Member
I... hope to god he involved a structural engineer to make sure that the building doesn't completely cave out under the weight.
 

massoluk

Banned
This is like a comic books villain lair shit.

Local newspapers have identified the owner as Zhang Biqing, a former member of a district People's Political Consultative Conference who owns a national chain of acupunture clinics.
So I take it this dude has some connection?
 

Sibylus

Banned
A lush mountaintop on top of a building? Awesome.

Building it without talking to the other building residents and actually doing your homework and reinforcing the building? Fuck you, professor.
 

TAJ

Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.
The neighbors' apartments are falling apart? So your basic Chinese construction, then.
Also, what sn00zer said.
 
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