Photos taken by recent visitors to gay old Pyongyang show the North Koreans installing glass on the lower parts of two of the Ryugyong Hotel‘s six facades (see photo on the left).
I have to say, this disappoints me — say what you will about the Ryugyong Hotel, and yes, it probably is the world’s most sinister piece of architecture, but at least its evil, Gotham Art Deco was kind of cool… in a very, very unsettling way. Cover it in glass — and that’s what it looks like — and it’s just another glass skyscraper.
But hey, nobody ever accused the North Koreans of having good taste.*
*To be fair, even the North Koreans can do something not entirely ugly, be it Pyongyang’s post-war Stalinist edifices (even prettier at night!) or Hamhung’s East German-designed Bauhaus architecture.
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Still not as tall as Samsung’s Arabian monstrosity, although it’s too bad they couldn’t have built something like the Burj Dubai in South Korea.
There’s an article floating somewhere on the internet written by a North Korean engineer who defected in the South who claims that the building can’t be completed because the elevator shaft is neither straight nor level. Besides, given the number of years this building has been neglected, it’s probably become structurally unsound. I’m guessing water seeping in cracks would have probably begun corroding the rebar.
Pyongyang, to me, is somewhat like Bowser’s castle.
who is Bowser?
Super Mario, anyone?
Mario is Italian. In North America, after a while, Nintendo gradually changed this Italian plumber into a Mexican one. I’d say around the year 2000.
I don’t play games anymore, but someone please back me up on that.
I think it’s stupid.
When I clicked the link for photos of Pyongyang at night, I really expected to see just a bunch of very, very, very, very, very, VERY, VERY dark photos.
I mean dark like priests socks.
I’m going to LOL hardcore when that thing collapses during a heavy rain.
I thought the readers of The Marmot’s Hole were smarter than this!
It’s just another Photoshop job by the Norks.
I do sincerely hope it will be finished and be safe. it is a pity and waste of resources if not.
the elevator problem is feasible, if you have been to Luxor in Vegas you will know how that elevator feel.
but i thought they could just put the elevator in the middle of the pyramid. so it is still more likely some structural flaw (or not strong enough piking?). other than piking, everything should be resolvable in today’s technology, with sufficient money. i heard that the CCTV building in Beijing had turned ugly because of bad calculation (they couldn’t calculate the deformation due the weight of the upper floors) but they resolved it by adding various reinforcements (so the irregular patterns you see today)
The photo in question was not taken by the North Koreans. Or at least I assume it wasn’t — the piece says Yonhap got the photo from recent visitors to the city.
Even if they do finish it and it’s safe, it’s still a pity and a waste of resources… on a crime-against-humanity scale.
What pretty missle silo.
Does anyone else see a star destroyer standing on it’s ass?
It looks like two huge panes of glass on top of unpainted cement. Photoshop?
“Even if they do finish it and it’s safe, it’s still a pity and a waste of resources… on a crime-against-humanity scale.”
i consider what has been already wasted a ‘sunk cost’. of course they shouldn’t have built it from the outset. but at the situation as is today, i would rather they finish it well, if the incremental investment is reasonable.
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