Construction began in 1987 and terminated in 1992. In March 2008 construction resumed on the Ryugyong. Signs of the resumed construction can be seen in the photographs on the right. The steel and concrete structure juts over P'yŏngyang's skyline at 105 stories that measure 330 m (1,080 feet) which make it a supertall skyscraper and one of the world's twenty tallest buildings. The project was developed in a joint venture between a DPRK SOE (Paektusan Architecture and Engineering) and a French engineering firm.
The original design envisioned a finished structure that would have become its own arrondisement with 3,000 odd hotel rooms, a hospital, a bowling alley and seven revolving restaurant/night club[s]. Final plans for the Ryugyong and its surrounding environs have not been disclosed, aside from the tower's use in a mobile telephone network named Koryolink. Koryolink is an expansion of the DPRK's budding cellular network. Currently, sanctioned mobile (cellular) telephone usage is restricted to executive DPRK government officials and UN program personnel, and reception is spotty.
In June 2008 it was reported in The Korea Times that the Egyptian telecommunications and construction company the Orascom Group would gradually invest the approximately $300 million (USD) necessary to complete the project. The Orascom Group also owns a 50% share in the DPRK SOE Sangwon Concrete Company, which supplied the original building materials for the Ryugyong. The DPRK will also supply Orascom's construction company with project labor for the company's projects in the Middle East. Orsucom Telecommunications has a contract to construct a 3GW mobile telephone network in the DPRK and it seems part of its infrastructure will be kept at the Ryugyong.
Also known as the "105 Hotel" or simply "The 105", the Ryugyong consists entirely of concrete formed and molded by hundreds of cement masons. The labor on this project were the elite of the North Korean building trades who had worked on other P'yŏngyang landmarks. Contrary to rumor, it has structural elevator shafts. The Ryugyong, or capital of willows, was intended to resemble a blossoming flower and the concrete shell was to be covered in a blue sheet glass. From a street view, however, the Ryugyong is shaped like a mountain's peak and could refer to either of the pan-Korean sacred mountains, Kumgangsan or Paektusan.
For sixteen years, the Ryugyong stood as an uninhabited shell, with a crane on its top levels to present the appearance of ongoing construction. The ongoing construction story was also conveyed by tour guides as an official response to the queries of visitors. Eventually, tour guides demurred or ignored questions about the immense, vacant structure.
Since construction resumed in Spring 2008, laborers for the Orascom Group have stabilized the perimeter, foundation and th main building (which had appeared to sway), added steel window frames and windows to the top six levels and wired those same levels with mobile telephone signal towers and cables. There is also a lot of safety equipment hanging from the bottom to the top of the building, including harnesses, ladders and safety nets.
In honor of World Workers' Day on 1 May, 2009, the Korean Workers' Party sponsored an extravagant fireworks display which was launched off the the side and base of the Ryugyong Hotel.
www.emporis.com/en/cd/cm/?id=101019honourablerekhyet.wordpress.com/2008/06/29/ryugyong-is-...
Wikipedia article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ryugyong_HotelThis article is protected.
Category:
hotel interesting place North Korea Under construction pyongyang
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14/1/2007 a man from Hanoi- Vietnam |
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+9 |
 
 
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the most important thing of this building is, on top of it there's always a crane. It appears on every picture about the building found on the net. obviously Kim Jung Il want to show as if the building is still UNDER CONSTRUCTION - at least for poor NK people since they don't have free media and Internet to see the truth behind!
Kim is the last living mummy in the world, the whole country has to suffer from this ugly monster indeed. Vietnam is also still under the control of the so-called Communist Party but in fact the hamhead Vietnamese leaders have no idea about the original Marxism ideology. They just want to hold their power as long as possible so as to steal more money from Vietnamese people. We also have fire-walls since the fvcking Hanoi government doesn't want the people to know all the frightening truth about communism on earth. |
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24/1/2007 James |
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+7 |
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You can see this hotel from everywhere in the city. It is, aparently, structurally unsound. Construction began in the late 80's when a South Korean firm won the contract to build a 100 story hotel (in Singapore?), so North Korea decided to build a 105 story one. When the USSR collapsed, so did the financing. A German company were brought in to see if it could be completed - and discovered that it's structurally unsound.
I've looked at a lot of my photos, and in all of them it *DOES* seem to be leaning slightly to one side. |
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30 months ago Jape |
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+8 |
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Impresionante. |
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28 months ago SP321 |
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+16 |
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They need to remove the concrete facade on this hotel and replace it with glass, then finish that son of a skeleton. |
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22 months ago forrestgumprock |
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+9 |
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It looks cool...... |
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18 months ago bostiao |
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+7 |
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All feelings on Kim Jong-Il and communism aside, it is quite possible that if this hotel were being built in the West it might be whole-heartedly supported and called a marvel of engineering |
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18 months ago Robert |
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+1 |
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Great point! I was impressed at first, then read the story and jumped on the bashing bandwagon. I agee and believe that if the West had built it, it would be seen as a marvel. |
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18 months ago Cynic |
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-1 |
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It might only be completed externally as to present a facade, but nothing within... That would make it a monument of sorts, and considering the mindset of the powers-that-be in this so-called 'People's Republic', it should be a monument to their way of thinking... |
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17 months ago Roy |
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-2 |
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This tower is the excellent example of brutalism. The tower is absolutely ugly, but the pure mass and the scary height makes it outstanding, and the symbol of Nort Korea, and the regime of the leader. Some more info can be found here: http://ryugyonghotel.com |
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10 months ago Sctn2labor |
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+1 |
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To quote Cracked on this: "How else can we convince people that a repressed totalitarian regime can still be an awesome vacation spot? With the most awesome hotel in the world! And we'll make it look like a comic book supervillain headquarters!" |
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9 months ago wahaha |
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+1 |
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it looks awesome and way too kick ass for a hotel |
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