PYONGYANG | Ryugyong Hotel | 330m | 1082ft | 105 fl | U/C

[meh_cd]

Originally Posted by droneriot

How exactly does that make their design less uninteresting?

Some people appreciate form following function.

[webeagle12]

Originally Posted by carlosceballos

nice
want to see one similar in NY

hell NO

[Harryx5]

Who will visit North Corea , were are the thousands of tourists that will fill the hotel ?

[Peloso]

Originally Posted by desertpunk

Actually, it reminds me of many buildings put up here in the states in the 1970's, such as the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Dearborn Michigan, or any number of John Portman developments which always had reflective glass and a revolving restaurant on top. The worrisome thing about this monster is the quality of the construction which will be hidden behind that shiny glass.

Well speaking of quality, this tower was not built to resist a 707 jetliner impact, but I'm sure it would stand a crash without falling on its footprint.

[nautica17]

Originally Posted by Harryx5

Who will visit North Corea , were are the thousands of tourists that will fill the hotel ?

You misspelled North Korea.

[WiGgLz01]

Originally Posted by Harryx5

Who will visit North Corea , were are the thousands of tourists that will fill the hotel ?

yeah really, and how did anyone obtain pictures of this building or have any idea of what is going on if the koreans wont let anyone take pictures and take them out the country? are these all posted by kim jung il or maybe his brother men tah le ill?

[AltinD]

Are you Kim Jung Il's brother or what?

[Desparye]

Originally Posted by nautica17

You misspelled North Korea.

Can be spelled either way. :P

[Viperfreak2]

What I've learned from this thread: There ARE tourists. It seems like some people enjoy seeing "how the NK's do things". In a funny backwards sorta way, or real curiosity...I don't know. I personally would never spend the time or money to visit, as I could imagine being on a beach on a Greek island for the same price. Just sounds like more fun to me.

There ARE pictures of this tower, and some are even close-up views! It would not be too difficult to 'smuggle' out photos. The NK's don't strip search everyone at the border! A memory card is tiny. So while the guides (tourists must have one) won't allow pictures to be taken of certain things in this country, it's pretty obvious they can't keep an eye on everyone, every second.

I am SURE the leader(s) of NK have internet service (this tower is being covered (frosting on a cake in my opinion) by a telecom company) and they read this AND possibly even comment! I love it that the whole world can communicate freely. Hopefully this will include the people of NK soon.

I do not believe this building should ever be occupied, based on the close-ups of the concrete quality, but it will look spectacular from the outside when finished!

[droneriot]

The concrete actually looks better than that of 23 Marina.

[dark_shadow1]

Originally Posted by WiGgLz01

yeah really, and how did anyone obtain pictures of this building or have any idea of what is going on if the koreans wont let anyone take pictures and take them out the country? are these all posted by kim jung il or maybe his brother men tah le ill?

They let people to take pics- they just make sure that they show only the good side of North Korea and obviously Ryungyong hotel is a part of this side so they probably allow tourists to take pics of the tower or maybe even take they own photos and upload them.

[Nozumi 300]

Originally Posted by Viperfreak2

What I've learned from this thread: There ARE tourists. It seems like some people enjoy seeing "how the NK's do things". In a funny backwards sorta way, or real curiosity...I don't know. I personally would never spend the time or money to visit, as I could imagine being on a beach on a Greek island for the same price. Just sounds like more fun to me.

Lot of people from China go to the DPRK because they want to get a sense of what it used to feel like living in a Stalinist country and also the DPRK is the only place left in the world that you can get that feeling.

[Arucard]

I think this building will fit very well in outskirts of Lisbon (Portugal), specialy in other side of the River Tagus, the city of Almada!



Just put this building in the place called "Margueira" and we have the first portuguese skyscraper!

[Viperfreak2]

Originally Posted by droneriot

The concrete actually looks better than that of 23 Marina.

WHAT?

[Viperfreak2]

Maybe you could post a comparison picture, or two?

[Dequal]

23 Marine, Dubai




http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=341366

[webeagle12]

drugs are bad for you mmmmmkkk

[Mark Rejhon]

Originally Posted by Harryx5

Who will visit North Corea , were are the thousands of tourists that will fill the hotel ?

I read that they are going for a compromise mix: Restaurants on top (with maybe a few floors reserved for 3G equipment), tourist hotel rooms near top floors, offices and apartments filling the big lower parts to help Pyongyang's slowly expanding economy.

Basically, Ryugyong is now a mixed-use building. I think that makes sense on a Return-On-Investment perspective for them.

________

As for concrete qualiy, that's worrisome but the photos clearly show concrete restoration work going on. Does anyone have photos of close-ups of completed concrete restoration? Looking closely at photos earlier, they covered up the balconies in green, and when the green got uncovered, the balconies look much better than the deteriorated photographs. So, concrete restoration is being done.

Concrete restoration is possible. I witnessed it happen locally at an old Canadian apartment tower that had poor concrete quality. Crumbling balconies with rusty rebar sticking out, the effects of hot-cold cycles over many winters with little maintenance. In restoration, they disassembled all the railings, bolted all patio doors shut. The balconies was just squares of ugly ragged concrete sticking out, just like the bad-concrete Ryugyong photograph (but not nearly as bad). They jackhammered all the weak concrete off, about a few inches in until they reached strong unweathered concrete layers, then recast the balconies using the pre-existing stubs of strong concrete / rebar. Occasionally they added new rebar (anchoring it deep in) where existing rebar was weakened. So it's possible to re-cast concrete on top of a concrete stub, provided you 'dress' and 'prepare' the stub properly, including drilling and anchoring new rebar into the ragged stubs before casting new layers of concrete all around it. Strength verification needs to be done too, there are electronic devices that can do it now. Oh, and the Canadian apartment tower ended up much more beautiful than expectede, with a nice modern white-gray-green theme afterwards, and the concrete looked excellent quality for a change. So concrete restoration can do wonders, but it looked like a very labour-intensive and expensive activity. To combat the expense of concrete restoration which is very labour-intensive, I would imagine a small number of Egyptian engineers got a large amount of cheap or nearly-free North Korean labour, trained them in the arts of construction, and the rest is history...

The question is... how much concrete restoration is being done at Ryugyong?

NEW PHOTO REQUEST: Closeup of balconies that have undergone concrete restoration work. (the whiter and blockier-neater-shaped balconies I see in other Rygyong photographs)

[webeagle12]

3G equipment you funny

[staff]

How is that funny?