[D-Mac]

Ryugyong Hotel
Pyongyang, North Korea

HEIGHT: 330m/1,083 feet
FLOORS: 105 floors
COMPLETION: 1991 ( Topping Out )
ARCHITECT: Baikdoosan Architects & Engineers

3000 room hotel that was never finished, but would have been the tallest hotel in the world at "completion"

The North Koreans began constructing the pyramid-shaped Ryugyong in 1987, reportedly aiming for 105 stories to beat out a structure the South Koreans were building in Singapore (not Kuala Lumpur). With 3,000 rooms and an estimated cost of $750 million, the thing was strictly an ego trip for North Korea's rulers--Pyongyang's few existing hotels were, and are, virtually empty. In 1991, some time after the Ryugyong had been topped out, work halted for unknown reasons, though "out of money" would be a good guess. The 3.9-millon-square-foot concrete structure is lit up at night, at least in propaganda pictures, but is thought to be crumbling.

 

[RafflesCity]

7.5/10

I am impressed with this very unusual design. It would be fantastic if completed..even better than the TransAmerica Pyramid.
Is that 3rd picture the 'back' of it?

 

[Guest]

6/10 too may floors for its height. Strange desgin

 

[Caledon1981]

yuk . . . needs to be all glass or something other than the repetitive hotel/condo look . .. 4.5/10

 

[Muse]

Height is no compensation for this one. Just looks like a, well an unfinished building in a newer type-yet-not communist bloc monolithic style.

0 for height and

0 for not being completed.

3 for style (or lack of it) and form.

2 for trying to be different, yet -1 for not achieving this completely.

Ummmm, calculating in head......

....so difficult....um.....:?......brings it to.........

.....almost there.......

UH! Ka-ching!!! Brings it to a total of 3; no, no, i mean 4.

 

[AG]

Sad to say that'll never get completed.

There are too many floors in this building for it's height, about 2.9m high for each floor.

It's way too wide and does not fit in with any other aurrounding buildings.

4/10

 

[SUNNI]

nice try, 3, for its height

 

[cgrassham]

Shame it will never be completed, but surely there must be too many floors for its height. If completed it would be beautiful, but it isn't. What a shame. :bleep:

 

[DrumCorpsAlum]

5/10. Yuck. It's just sitting there doing nothing.

 

[Jasonhouse]

An incomplete hulking mass of concrete that will very soon become a serious liability to the structures and people that surround it, as its exposed innards deteriorate rapidly. A complete disaster, perhaps memorable only for this dubious distinction.

The only redeeming quality is the thought of lost potential...

2.0/10

 

[Patrick]

ugly but althought interesting 8.0

 

[Ersh]

As it is, it's an odd looking brown triangle that stands above all. 6.5/10

If it were finished, I'm sure it would have been a very impressive building all in glass like in that rendering in the last pic.

 

[Guest]

What are it's redeeming features?

2/10

 

[Guest]

Man, this is so freakin' ugly. I'll give it a 10, however, because I don't want to upset the Dear Leader and be hauled off to a re-education camp!

 

[CTroyMathis]

I have very little like for this monumental shell... 2.

 

[ryanr]

Wish they completed it and put the glass panels, then it would be an 8/10.

But at the moment i rate it 4.5/10.

 

[Guest]

Gross.

 

[TYW]

6/10

not very nice

anyway, why is it counted as the 25th tallest skyscraper?? it is not completed!

 

[Guest]

3

Looks like the centre peice at some corn dog amusement park. Yet if I could visit 10 structures in the world this one would be on the list, it'd be awesome to see the decay and dellapadated state of the entrance.

A modern day ruin! Too bad it will never stand the test of time and is bound to crumble or at least whither away...

They should at least try to make it into something, like the world's tallest monument, they could have a contest out of the regular citizens and the winner would be the one the building stands in honour of... and when you die you could get buried beneath it. hehe

 

[Guest]

That's one of the ugliest buildings that could ever have been built, but because it's in Pyongyang, a city where color and decent urban design are surely illegal, it just looks like a taller extension of the terrain.

4.0