Ryugyong Hotel (incomplete) (Pyongyang)

Korea (North) / Pyongyang / Pyongyang
 hotel, skyscraper, interesting place, 2011_construction, unfinished / unbuilt
Construction began in 1987 and terminated in 1992. It resumed in March 2008, with completion set for 2012. The hotel juts over Pyongyang's skyline at 105 stories that measure some 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 Pyongyang landmarks. Contrary to rumor, it has structural elevator shafts. The Ryugyong, or capital of willows, was intended to resemble a blossoming flower from above. 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 the 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=101019

honourablerekhyet.wordpress.com/2008/06/29/ryugyong-is-...

SSC thread:
www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=769546
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Wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ryugyong_Hotel
Nearby cities:
Coordinates:   39°2'11"N   125°43'50"E

Comments

  • Impresionante.
  • It looks cool......
  • 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
  • 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.
  • 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...
  • 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
  • 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!"
  • it looks awesome and way too kick ass for a hotel
  • To all of the people here whose comments were along the lines of "if it had been built in the west, then it would be considered a marvel..." No, it wouldn't. If someone tried to build a skyscraper and it either was never finished or was found to be "structurally unsound", it would be considered a FAILURE, not a marvel. The fact that it is not or cannot be finished for whatever reason more than 20 years after it was started is a great metaphor for Communism/Socialism.
  • Really cool building, now, if it wasn't in North Korea I'd totally visit it!
  • I will try to be one of the first to check in in the hotel by 2012...
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