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Best Korea's 'Hotel of Doom' to open 24 years after construction

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Funky Papa

FUNK-Y-PPA-4
Stolen from SE.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/wor...Doom-to-open-24-years-after-construction.html
Now, 24 years after it was first started, the hotel which once aimed to be the world's tallest tower will finally open its doors in the North Korean capital.

Ryugyong Hotel, a glass tower spanning 105 storeys and rising 1,080ft high, will partially open in April next year following decades of delays, according to reports.

The long-delayed opening will coincide with the 100th anniversary of the birth of the nation's founder Kim Il-sung, with celebrations peaking on 15 April.

It was in 1987 that the hotel – whose name means Capital of Willows – was first launched with the grandiose ambitions of creating the world's tallest tower.

However, construction ground to a halt in 1993, due to lack of funds following the collapse of the Soviet Union, economic mismanagement and natural disasters.

...

However, three years ago, North Korea announced plans to resume and complete construction, in partnership with Orascom Group Inc, an Egyptian conglomerate.

The building – which will have the hotel on 20th to 30th levels as well as restaurant services and business facilities – is believed to be world's 40th tallest building with reportedly the fourth highest number of floors.

The hotel opening is among a string of projects North Korean officials are reportedly undertaking in order to present a modern capital as the world tunes in to the 100th anniversary celebrations.
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http://www.architizer.com/en_us/blog/dyn/25976/ryugyong-hotel-exterior-completed/
With its surfaces now completed, the hotel has taken on a completely different aesthetic, shirking its brutalist frame for a glossy vision of a jet-age mecca, with all the shallow optimism of ’80s technocratic utopias. As we mentioned before, it’s funny, if not embarrassing how much the hotel resembles Renzo Piano’s new Shard in London. The hotel is scheduled for completion in 2012 to coincide with the anniversary of the birth of North Korea’s “eternal president” Kim Il-Sung, but it is readily acknowledged that construction may continue beyond that point. The hotel will have 3,o00 rooms and at least 5 revolving restaurants.
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I would totally love to tour around and inside it. Wiki for those interested in knowing more about this fascinating building.

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It actually looks pretty damn impressive. Success?
 
Mission Impossible V just found its evil laboratory location.

Edit: I wonder if the 20+ years of standing there as a carcass has caused any deterioration in the structure framework...
 
Then again - a hotel in North Korea?

The place where you need to be on a six month wait list to get into the country? Where a police crew escorts you around whenever you go out to the city? Where they shoot people on the spot if they dare steal from you?

Yeah, financially this makes about as much sense as a penis enlargement on a dead person.
 
Looks like a super laser weapon. Who is going is go to the hotel though? And 5 restaurants? What will they serve? They have no food.
 
The end structure looks amazing but if they plan on just covering up 20 years of deteriorating structure with glass and calling it done they are insane. They should just demolish it and start from scratch.
 
By the way this looks better than 99% of all the ugly architecture that's been going up around NYC for the past decade or so. That's kinda sad.
 
Davidion said:
By the way this looks better than 99% of all the ugly architecture that's been going up around NYC for the past decade or so. That's kinda sad.
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Looks better than 90 percent of building popping up in the whole world, it's a refreshing design and even if it's just concrete covered in glass it still looks quite good.
 
It looks amazing, but I always feel sad in situations like this.
A people that is starving and a government pouring shitloads of money in weapons and megalomaniac constructions.
 
GTP_Daverytimes said:
Looks better than 90 percent of building popping up in the whole world, it's a refreshing design and even if it's just concrete covered in glass it still looks quite good.
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Yeah I don't care to insinuate the internals are safe in any way. lol
 
The hotel opening is among a string of projects North Korean officials are reportedly undertaking in order to present a modern capital as the world tunes in to the 100th anniversary celebrations.
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Yeah for the rest of the world that is going to be the biggest event since the royal wedding.....
 
Those glass ones are shops right? How the heck did they get so far in it already. Thought it was a cement pyramid like the other pics still.

Also I wouldn't trust that structures integrity after 24 yrs of just sitting there lol.
 
...those older photos make me concerned for its structural integrity :S

also, I think that's the most phallic tower I've ever seen.
 
It looks like it could lift off at any moment. It's pretty, though, but most likely useless unless the next Magnificent Leader decides to (forcibly) haul in tourists.
 
glaurung said:
Mission Impossible V just found its evil laboratory location.

Edit: I wonder if the 20+ years of standing there as a carcass has caused any deterioration in the structure framework...
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Depending on the weather conditions, it very well could cause some erosion damage.

These structures are built to some pretty decent safety factors(Edit: In North America at least...), so unless erosion has happened in a high high stress area. It ~should~ be okay.

/Mech Eng
 
Squire Felix said:
Depending on the weather conditions, it very well could cause some erosion damage.

These structures are built to some pretty decent safety factors(Edit: In North America at least...), so unless erosion has happened in a high high stress area. It ~should~ be okay.

/Mech Eng
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Weather damage was apparently the least of concerns, the first being the shitass work made by the original architects (like crooked columns and what not) and the poor quality of the concrete and other building materials.

I wonder if the new Egyptian architects made some improvements before covering everything with pretty slabs of glass. It'd be a riot if the revolving restaurants spun out of the tower during its inauguration.
 
GTP_Daverytimes said:
Looks better than 90 percent of building popping up in the whole world, it's a refreshing design and even if it's just concrete covered in glass it still looks quite good.
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Refreshing design that's older than the first Tim Burton Batman movie.
 
I enjoyed blowing it up in the 1st Mercenaries games.
 
North Korea would look a lot more realistic if the designers would work harder on generating believable crowds, 15 or so dudes in the same clothes sharing one animation routine just doesn't cut it by today's standards. The Ryugyong texture pack does look nice though, assuming it isn't as glitchy as the rest of the city... I just don't trust this developer to deliver as promised.
 
I remember when doing a spree of reading about North Korea a few years ago seeing some report or article that stated that the elevator shafts in this building were screwed up so there was no way to install proper elevators in the building.
 
Davidion said:
By the way this looks better than 99% of all the ugly architecture that's been going up around NYC for the past decade or so. That's kinda sad.
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You are crazy.

This design looks like something out of 1970s sci-fi pulp. It's quirky at best, tacky at worst.
 
Funky Papa said:
Weather damage was apparently the least of concerns, the first being the shitass work made by the original architects (like crooked columns and what not) and the poor quality of the concrete and other building materials.

I wonder if the new Egyptian architects made some improvements before covering everything with pretty slabs of glass. It'd be a riot if the revolving restaurants spun out of the tower during its inauguration.
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Yeah, thats a majority of the reason why I threw in the "Edit:" about in North America...

I haven't worked with concrete because its not really part of my discipline, but my friends in Civil have and they have had countless instances where they had specimens fail tests. (Typically compaction tests)
 
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