Now that this thing is actually going to be a little more than a wind-break , does anybody know why the N.K. government decided to finally finish this thing ? I mean , they blew all that cash on nukes , their economy is toasted like a nuke went off , and it's not like they let anybody into the damned place anyway. So , considering that it's stood there for so long , engineering issues aside , why is it being finished now given that North Korea can't even afford to feed itself ? Is it actually a matter of doing it now to avoid engineering issues or is this just L'il Kim trying to keep up with the Joneses ?

I think it looks fantastic. It was always hard to picture what it would look like back when it didn't have a facade, but I'm thinking it looks really nice - maybe even one of the coolest looking buildings anywhere.

but this thing would never be allowed to remain standing in most other countries with the means to build such a building. it might have sat around all those years relatively intact but no way would it ever bee deemed fit for occupancy. i am afraid when north korea goes, so too will this thing.

sad because this is turning out to be a great looking building.

Haven't seen this view posted here yet. . . from SSC. . .

This one seems like it's gonna turn out great! lets erase this terrible eyesore and build this thing! :cheers:

Pyongyang's never looked so... Modern. :haha:

Too bad 75%+ of those buildings don't even have electricity in them.

you've been there to witness this or you're only repeating what occidental medias want you to believe ?

I agree. For me the very shape of the building gives it a very austere appearance.

No, all the Communist party officials and government bureaucrats live in Pyongyang. It's practically the only place in North Korea that actually does have full electrification AFAIK...

The tall buildings descend into small homes and pastures in such a short distance, it does make for a really interesting city. I would be impossible in a market economy because land values would not be expensive enough for high-rises. If North Korea ever liberalizes I wonder how quickly those fields and forested spaces would be filled up with mid-rises.

This strikes me as a made-up statistic.

I don't think that buildings without electricity would be able to become high-rises. For one, they'd be pitch black inside even in the daytime because most rooms would not have window access. For two, with no elevators a large number of residents would be spending hours a day just huffing up 20 flights of stairs. Third, I don't envision people lugging kerosene lamps and firewood onto the 15th story, then dying of carbon monoxide poisoning because there clearly aren't significant chimneys on any of those buildings.

If you were going to go through the pains of building an electric grid that covers a quarter of the buildings in your city, why would you skip three out of every four?

I'm sure you can find lots of real things to criticize about the quality of life and government there, but that doesn't mean you can pick a bunch of random bad things and say "sure it MUST be that bad, it's North Korea!" I mean, do they walk on their hands there and sign letters in pig's blood, too?

wasn't there a post a ways back (or maybe on SSC) that it's being finished for use as a communications tower, specifically a 3G network or equivalent for the city?

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I'm wondering where some of you are getting your information. North Korea is a police state, a very oppressive place to live, but to make statements like 75% of the buildings have no electricity or that even the loyal get 100 grams per day of rice rationing... Where do you get this information? You may want to verify information and make sure its accurate before stating it as fact.

I find it hard to believe that 75% of highrises in Pyongyang would be without electricity. I'm pretty sure 100% of them have electrical wiring, but its probably that they have rolling blackouts much like Cuba and other societies where they turn the electricity off during certain hours.

The fact is, despite it being an oppressive police state, we also can't just make up ideas to make it sound bad in reaction.

This photo proves the buildings pretty much all have electric wiring, we just don't know when they have the rolling blackouts that are reported by reputable reports.

Pyongyang in the early morning, taken by a western tourist so its not doctored:
http://thinkberg.com/space/start/200...angMorning.jpg

this is way off topic. let's stick with the building and save the politics for another thread.

Today has been a busy day here. . . must be that time of the month. . . no more warnings. . . any further derailment of this thread will result in disciplinary action. . .

. . .

I wonder if we'll get to see any pictures of the inside of this building...

Creepy, like an ominous shadow crawling out of the darkness over the horizon.

Its went from being a very bizarre looking structure to very interesting with this transformation.

Interesting question, or even if it will be inhabitable. Unless they are fixing whatever structural deficiencies there supposedly were after they had put up the shell.

My Favorite Building is Where?!
 

This building is now my favorite in the world. (Until Chicago Spire is Built)

Or until it collapses from shoddy concrete.

Uh... Ok... Everyone has their own opinion I guess...
Can't wait till we hear what's going to happen with this building.

Have there been any updates as to whether the intention is for communications only or will it also be an operational hotel?

Maybe it'll be both?

probably both.
i think it is quite common for the tallest buildings (e.g., office, residential) to also serve a communications purpose.

Any updated pictures?

And a operational hotel in Pyongyang of that size? for the 5 guests that might stay there each night perhaps.... otherwise, unlikely.

Latest pictures from June 3rd. Lots of progress.

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4039/...a716a0_b_d.jpg
http://www.flickr.com/photos/akiwitz/

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4035/...aedb70_b_d.jpg
http://www.flickr.com/photos/akiwitz/

This is going to be a sexy building once completed though, kind of like the ugly ducking that grows into the swan. The building is and will always still be a sad reminder though, but perhaps a modern take Eiffel tower in the sense that its a land mark?

Wow, almost looks good now!

Hopefully, this tower will serve a purpose other than to just look pretty on the outside.

now that looks way better sad they dident finish it with that cladding all those years ago.

wonder if they will finally take down the crane or leave it still as a memory.

taking it away now will probably upset the cosmic order or something

Is it true that the cladding was finished only on one of the three sides?

No. There have been numerous shots of cladding on the other sides.

It at least brightens that entirely too gloomy city up, maybe moral for great leader will improve.

We should have a forum meet at the top once it's finished. :cool:

This is looking better than I thought it would!

Too bad they are building this instead of feeding all the poor people in NK. Their hospitals could probably use the money for some modern equipment too, but nope, they are spending money on a giant hotel that no one will use.

It looks kinda cool though.

I really think that if this building were in any other city on earth it would have a lot more fans. I really liked this building from the first time I saw it but maybe that's because I can separate politics from architecture.

Agreed. To me, the building design is so unique it looks like something that should be getting built in Las Vegas. I love it.

I have a question (might be impossible though): Does anyone have any pictures of this thing actually under construction?

The cladding is looking great, but soon enough will be covered with giant portraits of the Great Dear Leader.

Anyone else going to miss the concrete brutalist shell? I really like the (nearly) finished version but the shell had, for reasons I don't fully understand, really grown on me.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/8299319...83372/sizes/l/

A bit old but it shows the cladding on the second side :cheers:

And this one shows both the second and third side.

Also if you look carefully you could see they are actually repairing the concrete

http://www.flickr.com/photos/8299319...n/photostream/

If you want future info:

The rest of the story is here:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8306697.stm

If you look closely at the first shot you can see the shadow made by the concrete in the centre of the building. The shadow is pretty bent. Looks like a motor-cross course up there. I'd hate to be anywhere near that building in an earthquake. God only knows what dodgy stuff went on there while they were building the structure.

The article says only two sides are being clad: "At the Ryugyong itself, an army of labourers has been fixing gleaming glass panels, covering the grey concrete on two sides of the skyscraper and the rings that crown it."

It's an old article from 2009. There are pictures that shows the 3rd side is now being cladded. Also the article didn't mention that only two sides would be cladded. It mentions that 2 sides are being cladded as of the time.

I may have missed it in this thread... But how can they finish this building. I thought it was built with shoddy concrete and materials so they had doubts about if the building could even stand for any legth of time, and it was too dangerous to finish it.

Unless that was all just rumours. Either way it will look pretty cool when it's complete.

concrete is actually very durable, it may crumble or stain on the surface but it lasts longer than many stone buildings - watch Earth After Us, a doc on what happens if all humans disappeared. It would take hundreds or thousands of years (barring earthquakes) before the buildings would fall and disappear.

The coliseum is also a good example of an open concrete building.

Or a better documentary would be Life After People from the history channel. Even naval ships would last thousands of years if they have a way. Sure they might rust and everything but they would survive for a long time. The Ryugyong Hotel was abandoned for only 14 years. That is too short of a lifetime for a building to just collaspe. Most modern skyscrapers even without glass could last 150 years.