PYONGYANG | Ryugyong Hotel - Reconstruction | 1,083 FT / 330 M | 105 FLOORS

[staff]

Very insightful and well said.

[M II A II R II K]

How would they ensure that the winds won't whip over it and tear off the facade on the other side when the wind blows down it, or did they pick the right kind of facade beforehand and took all that into consideration...

[mthq]

Originally Posted by Foun10Head-X

To me, the top looks promising, but I don't know about the patching up to blur out the flaws. The whole near 20 year-old concrete is like treading on thin ice, no pun intended. How they're pulling this off remains to be seen.

I don't get it, where's your unintended pun?

[Lecom]

Reading the comments about this building is always hilarious. When the North Koreans let this hulk of concrete sit empty, it was all "lol North Korea is fail, they couldn't even finish this ugly building." Now when they're actually finishing it, most of the comments are "lol North Korea is fail, they're finishing this ugly building, it's all propaganda." Makes me think twice about the Koreans' assertions of ignorance on behalf of the West, who fling mud at any product or action of their regime without even having the ability to back up their half-baked assertions (e.g. saying the building will not be used).

[Dr Nevergold]

Originally Posted by KingKrunch

Yonhap (Korean Press Agency) latest pictures, dated September 3rd:

Now that is something I never imagined seeing, it looks absolutely amazing with the glass, but will have to see the end result.

[Dr Nevergold]

Originally Posted by Upward

That would be consistent with earlier reports (granted, there's no way to verify THOSE) that the building had some serious and probably irreparable flaws such as the elevator shafts not being aligned properly. I don't know how something like that could be fixed.

Supposing it was true, if its true, then I assume they could design a series of elevators that stop at specific floors. No express to the top, but you could have a series of express elevators along with normal ones for the floors that aren't misaligned.

Although you have to admit with as much propaganda the North Koreans put out, there is even more anti-Korean propaganda from the west that just makes up stuff, so who knows if there is any truth to any of it?

[the one and only]

with this building finishing up it gives me hope that one day as well the chicago spire will be completed

[JDRCRASH]

It also gives me hope that soon, the dictatorship in North Korea may finally be starting to near it's end.

[Zerton]

Originally Posted by the one and only

with this building finishing up it gives me hope that one day as well the chicago spire will be completed

[Dr Nevergold]

After several days of reading spotty news coverage, it can be somewhat confirmed (as best as any news can be from North Korea) that this is just a facade for the moment.

It appears the Orascom corporation is doing this as a side project as a deal they made with the North Korean government since they are installing a 3G cellular phone network in the country.

While its just a facade, it doesn't mean the insides of the building couldn't be finished at a later date, but it indeed is just facade work at the moment, and only one side is mostly complete from the views.

Since there are 3 sides it will be a better part of another year before they probably get the glass mostly to the top.

Makes one wonder what the North Korean government will use the building's image for, since it will look fairly post-modern and quite intriguing vs the old style.

Quite frankly this new facade is simply amazing. Its like the building has went from some tragedy to a wow factor that may be a new feat of style.

[Pizzuti]

The old facade looked ancient and defunct, sort of like the pyramids are to Cairo or the Colosseum is to Rome. I won't deny that the glass surface is an improvement, but it seems like something is lost, too.

The new facade was important at the very least to protect the building from weather (crumbling bits have a long way to fall and would be damaging and dangerous) but it's going to open it up to a new kind of architectural criticism as a complete structure (at least from the outside), and an absolute monolith in a city that lacks tall skyscrapers. It isn't on par with all the other modern skyscrapers all over the world, but it's good, at least, for Pyongyang.

[Dr Nevergold]

Its hard to discern whether the building was crumbling at all, at least on a significant, structural level. The western anti-North Korean hype that surrounds it has said as much, but we have no proof. I'm not saying its structurally sound, but as far as we know in the west - because of how oppressive the North Korean regime is and how much the rumor mill loves to bash North Korea in the west - we have no idea if there is any truth to the idea that there are misaligned floors or crumbling concrete. The building doesn't visually have any problems, just looks like it was halted in the middle of construction years ago.

If there were problems with the concrete on the outside I would imagine photos taken recently would show a different context and more mis-colored, abused looking concrete.

[Tom In Chicago]

Originally Posted by Pizzuti

The old facade looked ancient and defunct, sort of like the pyramids are to Cairo or the Colosseum is to Rome. I won't deny that the glass surface is an improvement, but it seems like something is lost, too.

Just to clarify. . . there was no "old facade". . . there was only the exposed concrete structure of the building. . . what's being applied is the facade as it appears to have originally been designed. . .

. . .

[isaidso]

Originally Posted by Ehrgeiz91

Looks very outdated... but then, of course, it is. I guess I'm missing what others seem to like about this.

In a world of cookie cutter everything, rules, tradition, etc. this building seems to spit in the face of all of that. Love it or hate it, one thing is clear, Ryugyong Hotel is completely over the top. For many people, it's a breath of fresh air.

I'm totally fascinated by it.

[Dr Nevergold]

Maybe Kim Jong Il will use the building as a new cornerstone of the people's faith in the deity that he has made himself to be?

[Crush_Buds]

Someone mentioned a restaurant on top. Someone else just said it will be a cellphone tower. For some reason a restaurant in a starving country sounds odd. But it looks like it could easily hold a restaurant, and have some incredible views.

[Dr Nevergold]

There is no official survey on how many people are starving in North Korea, and I'm sure Pyongyang isn't where the majority of that would be happening.

This hotel actually was built to potentially serve as a bid for hosting a world wide event like the Olympics. Not sure how much of a chance Pyongyang would have, but they wanted it to be a showcase.

It looks like they have filled in the circular balcony-like areas near the top of the building with some kind of material to install something around it... Not sure what it is or the purpose of it, or if its a temporary building material.

[simcityaustin]

Do we have any news on if this is just window dressing or is part of the process to make this building occupied?

[TANGELD_SLC]

I'm liking the cladding, but it is a bit dated. Maybe North Korea's going to open its borders to more westerners and are putting on the glass to keep face...

[Spocket]

Originally Posted by KingKrunch

posted by Ray Cunningham on flickr (click):

"Update on the construction. Usually the side toward the Taedong is shown. This is from the south. The top seems to be covered (the restaurants)."

Am I the only one that can't quite put this thing in perspective ?
To me it looks like an entire wing of the building is build on a slant. No matter how hard I try to figure out how it could just be some trick of perspective it still comes out looking like the wing pointing towards the camera is on a downward slant as it goes outward.