The HOTEL OF DOOM (good laughs)

[Cocytus]

One of the things that concerns architects (I'd say disproportionately concerns, which puts me at odds with my colleagues) is context. Everything has to be contextual, nothing can be out of place, etc. Of course, many great landmarks like the Empire State Building, Grand Central, the original McKim-Mead-White Penn Station (not the offensive rabbit warren underneath MSG we currently have) are way out of context, and we love them for it.

I'm a big fan of audacious architecture. As a skyscraper fanatic, I love tall towers that push the boundaries of structure, efficiency, height, etc. Every now and again you get something so completely ridiculous you just have to laugh. So it is with North Korea's infamous Hotel of Doom, the Ryugyong Hotel in Pyonyang.


(Image form Urbanneighbourhood.com)

Cute, isn't it? Can't you just see yourself having a honeymoon in this place? Yeah, neither can I.

Construction began in 1987 and stalled in 1992, after 105 floors, 3.9 million square feet of floor space (Empire State is 2.4 million) and 2% of North Korea's GDP. While I can't vouch for the quality, it has one thing going for it. It is perhaps the most salient example of brilliantly, and completely accidentally, contextual architecture, perfectly evocative of North Korea's regime: a faceless, brutal mountain of concrete looming over the city.

Now, for reasons that elude me completely, an Egyptian company called Orascom, which is building a 3G network for the party leaders (since civilians can't have cell phones) is also apparently finishing the building. The results surprised the hell out of me:


(Image from Daylife.com)

Can you believe that? Now it looks like it would be at home on the Strip! I'm so confused...

[Mike DiCenso]

Ah yes, the "Phantom Hotel" aka "The Worst Building in the World". According to Orascom Telecom, the work they are doing on the building will not actually complete it per se, but rather is intended to try and make the damned thing look a bit more attractive by doing some exterior facade work (only one side of the building is actually fully claded as per your photo). Other than that, they are apparently doing little to nothing to complete the building to meet any real functional use. I don't know how, if it is even possible, that the issue with the elevator shafts could be resolved without a major gutting of the interior structure.
-Mike

[Praeothmin]

My question is, since just about no one is doing business with North Korea, who the heck is going to stay there?
Will it ever be at even 25% occupancy?

[Mike DiCenso]

You're forgetting a bit what kind of government N. Korea has. This was a stupid prestige project that had no realistic way of paying for itself, or attracting any foreign tenants. Allegedly, according to the Wikipedia article and other sources the plan for a large hotel was a Cold War response to the completion of the Westin Stamford Hotel in Singapore the previous year by a South Korean company.
-Mike

[The Dude]

lol, the first pic makes it look like they built it out of mud brick, or dung.

[Mike DiCenso]

It wouldn't surpise me if they did, knowing how substandard the thing is. I also have to agree with Cracked.com, it looks like it was subcontracted out to the same Orcish architectural firm that designed and built Barad-dûr for Sauron in Mordor. ;-)
-Mike

[Mr. Oragahn]

lol, the first pic makes it look like they built it out of mud brick, or dung.

Try to find a top down picture of it at that time, it looks like a starbase, or some dusty star destroyer.

Now...



Someone forgot about the antialiasing filter.
Truly, the final version looks like crap. I would have preferred solid white slabs of armour strapped onto the framework, with a good amount of gun notches for good measure.
Imagine typical UFP plating details applied to this.
It would have looked like a Mass Effect futuristic building. Now it just looks like... like stupid stuff built by people who have lots of money but not much taste.

[The Dude]

Well, it sort of looks like a glass dildo. One of those ones for folks who like "extra size."

[Cocytus]

While the quality of construction is pretty shoddy (a misaligned elevator shaft ranks pretty high on the list of contractor "oh shit" moments) the quality of the concrete itself might not have been too bad. Granted, I don't have access to the actual building to make an objective report, but from what I can see, the concrete is suffering all the symptoms of 16 years of weather, freeze-thaw and neglect: localized cracking, spalling, and rusting rebar. What I don't see are major structural faults like sagging floorplates, a clear indicator of tension failure. The first place I would expect sagging is in the cantilevered plates at the top, which were originally supposed to be restaurants. Tension failure in concrete tends to give fair warning with large cracks that build up along the bottom surface, which causes the member to sag. Take a look at these before and after photos:

http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showpost. ... tcount=959

Orascom did a lot of restoration work on the concrete before cladding it. Hell, there are parts of the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway that look like the Ryugyong, and they're still standing.

Well, it sort of looks like a glass dildo. One of those ones for folks who like "extra size."

Paging Dr. Freud. This claim could be made for a lot of skyscrapers (though I shudder to think of the results of someone pleasuring themselves with a dildo that looked like the Empire State, or the Sears Tower. The Chicago Spire could absolutely pass for one.) But if it's penile metaphors you're seeking, it's difficult to best London's Green Bird:

http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/t ... nts-2.html

That is a real design. Amusingly, I know exactly what the problem was. Architects are a passionate bunch, and they can get so devoted to their ideas that they lose objectivity. It takes an objective third party to say, "you know, that looks a lot like a dong." Clearly the Green Bird's designers did not benefit from such a dispassionate viewpoint.

[The Dude]

lol, the British one is probably the most phallic building yet.

[Mike DiCenso]

While the quality of construction is pretty shoddy (a misaligned elevator shaft ranks pretty high on the list of contractor "oh shit" moments) the quality of the concrete itself might not have been too bad. Granted, I don't have access to the actual building to make an objective report, but from what I can see, the concrete is suffering all the symptoms of 16 years of weather, freeze-thaw and neglect: localized cracking, spalling, and rusting rebar. What I don't see are major structural faults like sagging floorplates, a clear indicator of tension failure. The first place I would expect sagging is in the cantilevered plates at the top, which were originally supposed to be restaurants. Tension failure in concrete tends to give fair warning with large cracks that build up along the bottom surface, which causes the member to sag. Take a look at these before and after photos:

Those are some interesting photos you linked to. I wonder, though, how much of that "restoration" is cosmetic as opposed to actual structural integrity improvements. It's the additional images are particularly interesting because it shows how much of the work that is being done to beautify this monstrosity by Orascom Telecom is as much a sham as the original construction itself. Just look at the glass (or whatever that is) they are cladding the side of the building with, it does not match the original window placements, they're just covering it all up to make it look good from one side only.

Sadly, I have to wonder if some day, 20 or so years for now that damn thing is going to eventually collapse on it's own. At the very least, the government there should just demolish the stupid thing and salvage what they can of the materials for better use elsewhere.
-Mike

[Mr. Oragahn]

lol, the British one is probably the most phallic building yet.

Can't wait for the vagina building. There's already a massive donuts shaped thing in the works.
That said, London architects seem to have a fixation on smooth and long things that get inside stuff.



Torre, Swiss Re's London HQ tower.
More seriously, and simply for mild curiosity, you may want to check this out.

[The Dude]

I find the idea of a do-nut building rather interesting actually. I've long wanted a do-nut shaped house. ;)

[Mike DiCenso]

Put fins on it and it would look a lot like a fat, decorative V-2 rocket.
-Mike

[The Dude]

Actually, it rather looks like a .50 cal ball round.