Pyongyang: "Worst Building in the History of Mankind" Gets a Face Lift

[Siam Sam]

Story here (http://www.smh.com.au/travel/travel-news/worst-building-in-the-history-of-mankind-gets-a-face-lift-20090907-fdbs.html). The 105-story Ryugyong Hotel, "started in 1987 and halted for 16 years because it could have bankrupted the destitute state."

It really does look kind of cool now. All part of a part of a "campaign to try to turn the state into a great and prosperous nation by 2012." Uh-huh.

[wolfman]

Huge improvement. Everything equal, I don't like the new look all that much, but it's 1000 times better than the abandoned fascist galactic capital building look of before.

[Robot Arm]

I'll be damned, I guess you can polish a turd.

[pravnik]

I'll be damned, I guess you can polish a turd.Beat me to it.

[Hakuna Matata]

I'll be damned, I guess you can polish a turd.

Or at least polish one side. I highly doubt they will finish the other sides. I liked the quote that you finish one side and if all goes well you finish the other sides. Right.

[crazyjoe]

You guys must have missed the mythbusters episode where they polished lion poop up to have a higer gloss index than chrome.

[threemae]

Kinda sucks to think about the extra 20,000 North Korea peasants that will have to starve to death because of this, but yeah, its sorta neat to look at.

[Argent Towers]

This building is the Duke Nukem Forever of hotels.

[Xema]

Maybe now North Koreans will be allowed to acknowledge that this thing exists. It has for years been much the most prominent building in the country, but reports said that if you took photos or even spoke of it you could be in serious trouble.

[Chimera]

Just think, in a few years, the Glorious Kim Jong-Il Spaceship of Future Happiness may even be ready for launch.

Oh wait, it's NOT a space ship?

Then it must the the North Korean version of the Pyramids, and Dear Leader will be buried under it when he does. Along with all his top aides, living or dead.

[Beware of Doug]

I had no idea it was 105 friggn stories. That is a LOT of ugly.

[Hippy Hollow]

Hey, this is awesome! I love the hotel because it is so fuckin' grotesque. Sort of cool to see it with a makeover. The creepiness level dropped about 50% but it's still a big tower of fug.

[Mahaloth]

So is it being converted to a monument then? I doubt it was structurally sound enough to hold people, which was an often cited concern by outsiders.

Maybe it will be changed to monument to the freedom of the N. Koreans.

:rolleyes:

[LSLGuy]

I especially enjoy the fact the face they're shining up is the only one ever seen in any "before" photos. The other sides apparently don't exist.

Although it certainly doesn't fit in with its surroundings, had the building been a success the design would have been pretty cool & over the top, like the famous Dubai hotels & other high rises are.


Maybe it will be changed to monument to the freedom of the N. Koreans. Actually, after the Kims are gone, it might make a superb monument to that. Leave the bottom half (third?) looking like the Communist disaster it was, and the top half all shiny & new, reflecting both the peoples' relief at being freed and their aspirations to accomplish the same miracle South Korea did. Metaphorically, the shiny new built on the ashes / foundations of the old.

And the monstrous size matches the monstrous crime.





In all, I think that's the best Idea I've had all week. I wonder how I can profit from it? Oops, it's in the public domain now.

[Desert Nomad]

I think when they open it, the slogan should be: "Now witness the power of this fully operational battle station." :D

I have seen the building in person and it is the most bizarre structure I have ever seen.

[AK84]

Ugliest buildings in the world are the tower flats built in the UK after WWII.

[AK84]

Ugliest buildings in the world are the tower flats built in the UK after WWII.

[Martini Enfield]

Who on Earth did they think was going to stay in a 3,000 room hotel in Pyongyang?

As far as I know the North Vietnamese almost never let Foreigners into their country, and the handful of people that do get in aren't allowed to just wander around with a Nikon photographing things willy-nilly and generally having what the rest of the civilised world might consider a "holiday".

[AK84]

^
Well for starters they thought that since they are not North Vietnamese, they could do that.

[Martini Enfield]

^
Well for starters they thought that since they are not North Vietnamese, they could do that.

:smack: Sorry, that's what happens when I try and post here whilst simultaneously explaining the finer points of the Vietnam War to someone else at the same time...

[Khadaji]

I'm in the minority here - I didn't think it was that ugly. The new look is cool though.

[Alessan]

Who on Earth did they think was going to stay in a 3,000 room hotel in Pyongyang?


Who's "they"? Kim wanted the biggest hotel in the world, and no-one in the entire company was brave enough to tell him it was a bad idea.

[CalMeacham]

Oh, come on! That isn't even in the running for "Ugliest Building in the World" We've had lots of uglier buildings pointed out on this Board. There's even a current thread on it:
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=535965

With the new cladding, it kinda looks like the JLA headquarters, or something.

[garygnu]

I always thought it looked cool, but the new glass makes it look straight out of Vegas.

[Ludovic]

I dislike modernistic concrete because it's dreary and depressing, but all-glass is worse, in that it's oppressively opulent. And I think that as a middle class person, imagine what the peasants think of this glittering example of unobtainable wealth.

[Nancarrow]

Oh, come on! That isn't even in the running for "Ugliest Building in the World" We've had lots of uglier buildings pointed out on this Board. There's even a current thread on it:
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=535965

With the new cladding, it kinda looks like the JLA headquarters, or something.

And in the thread you linked to, the first post in turn links to an article on "The World's Ugliest Buildings", in which the Ryugyong Hotel is... no. 2! :D


(And they put the SIS building at no. 3. :mad: I think it is truly a thing of beauty.)

[Slithy Tove]

Still looks like the agitator column from a giant washing machine.

Maybe if they build a spiraling roller coaster around it, they'll raise occupancy rates.

[Green Bean]

Hey, this is awesome! I love the hotel because it is so fuckin' grotesque. Sort of cool to see it with a makeover. The creepiness level dropped about 50% but it's still a big tower of fug.
Yeah, but the fact that only one side has been fixed up doubles the remaining creepiness factor by 2.

[Mahaloth]

Oh, come on! That isn't even in the running for "Ugliest Building in the World" We've had lots of uglier buildings pointed out on this Board. There's even a current thread on it:
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=535965


Right.....so the hotel is on that list though, right?

:confused:

[FlyingRamenMonster]

Needs anti-aliasing.

[Tom Tildrum]

With the new cladding, it kinda looks like the JLA headquarters, or something.

You're on to something (http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1283/1129930967_8ed770a21e.jpg?v=0).

[Sunspace]

You're on to something (http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1283/1129930967_8ed770a21e.jpg?v=0).Wrong building. (http://images.google.ca/images?hl=en&safe=off&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:eo:official&hs=zjK&resnum=0&q=cincinnati+union+terminal&um=1&ie=UTF-8&ei=N_7XSvX9Ac2ylAfbmdyhAQ&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&ct=title&resnum=5&ved=0CC0QsAQwBA)

[China Guy]

the Master speaks (http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2334/is-the-worlds-tallest-building-in-north-korea)

[cmyk]

Needs anti-aliasing.

Damn you. I was going to say it looks like an 8-bit version of this. (http://www.play.vg/games/4-Asteroids.html)

[Siam Sam]

Update: Those in the know insist the 105-story Ryugyong Hotel will open next year, run by the luxury Kempinski chain. Story here (http://www.stuff.co.nz/travel/asia/7899175/Pyramid-monster-worlds-tallest).

[Rune]

I liked the previous sandy/grey version better. It had more of a traditional ziggurat look.

[Ferret Herder]

Update: Those in the know insist the 105-story Ryugyong Hotel will open next year, run by the luxury Kempinski chain. Story here (http://www.stuff.co.nz/travel/asia/7899175/Pyramid-monster-worlds-tallest).
Did they finish the glass facade on all the sides, or is that picture from just the one prettied-up side still?

[Siam Sam]

Did they finish the glass facade on all the sides, or is that picture from just the one prettied-up side still?

Dunno. Now that you mention, you do always see only the one side, don't you?

[Hilarity N. Suze]

I always thought that would be a hell of a cool-looking building if they finished it. I actually liked the spookiness of it when it was unfinished, but a building that doesn't function is not much good.

I guess what I'm saying is, the glass gives it one look. It could have worked without the glass facade, though, as it was a very imposing building anyway.

[Siam Sam]

Is it facing south? Maybe it's a half-assed plot to blind South Korea with reflected light.

[Zebra]

Needs anti-aliasing.


HA!



Why don't they make it a prison. Don't they need those or do they just execute everyone?

[tdn]

What that building needs is more terrorists.

[Taomist]

What that building needs is more terrorists.

Explosives aren't the answer to EVERY problem, but in this instance, I think Chiun would agree.

[Chimera]

Congratulations, Comrade. Rather than sending your entire family to the camps, we have decided to gift you with an apartment on the 83rd floor of the Ryugyong Hotel. Speak well of it and you will continue to live.

[Robot Arm]

Explosives aren't the answer to EVERY problem, but in this instance, I think Chiun would agree.It'll need a satellite dish so he can watch his soaps.

[Wesley Clark]

I was hoping to see the same structure with christmas lights on it, but it actually looks kind of decent. I'm sure all the starving peasants will be happy to know where the national treasure is going.

And haha that they only had enough money to put reflective glass on one side of the building.

Also how fucked up is a nation of 22 million people if building a hotel can bankrupt you.

[silenus]

It'll need a satellite dish so he can watch his soaps.

I love you people.

[Mahaloth]

Who is going to stay there? Foreigners visiting usually stay in a hotel on an island so they can be isolated. If it is in the city proper, how can they ever expect enough visitors to open the thing?

Here is the standard foreigner hotel, by the way. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yanggakdo_International_Hotel)

I saw a great video once of drunk foreigners running around the Yanggakdo hotel in boxers and playing ping pong while drunk. The N. Korean staff was clearly told....to totally ignore them. They just ran around yelling and no one cared.