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Who wants to buy a piece of the House that Ruth Built
20,000 seats are going to put up for sale a grand a pop...
A piece of history...
Just think of how much the Yankee locker room urinal where greats like Mattingly, Maris, and Mantle once whizzed could go for... 20,000 seats are going to put up for sale a grand a pop... A piece of history... ... more -
Construction resumes on phantom hotel after 16 years
"North Korea's phantom hotel is stirring back to life. Once dubbed by Esquire magazine as "the worst building in the history of mankind," the 105-story Ryugyong Hotel is back under construction after a 16-year lull in the capital of one of the world's most reclusive and destitute countries.
According to foreign residents in Pyongyang, Egypt's Orascom group has recently begun refurbishing the top floors of the three-sided pyramid-shaped hotel whose 330-metre (1,083 ft) frame dominates the Pyongyang skyline.
The firm has put glass panels into the concrete shell, installed telecommunications antennas -- even though the North forbids its citizens to own mobile phones -- and put up an artist's impression of what it will look like.
An official with the group said its Orascom Telecom subsidiary was involved in the project but gave no details.
The hotel consists of three wings rising at 75 degree angles capped by several floors arranged in rings supposed to hold five revolving restaurants and an observation deck.
A creaky building crane has for years sat unused at the top of the 3,000-room hotel in a city where tourists are only occasionally allowed to visit.
"It is not a beautiful design. It carries little iconic or monumental significance, but sheer muscular and massive presence," said Lee Sang Jun, a professor of architecture at Yonsei University in Seoul.
The communist North started construction in 1987, in a possible fit of jealousy at South Korea, which was about to host the 1988 Summer Olympics and show off to the world the success of its rapidly developing economy.
A concrete shell built by North Korea's Paektu Mountain Architects & Engineers emerged over the next few years. A proud North Korea put a likeness of the hotel on postage stamps and boasted about the structure in official media.
According to intelligence sources, then North Korean leader Kim Il-sung saw the hotel as a symbol of his big dreams for the state he founded, while his son and current leader Kim Jong-il was a driving force in its construction.
But by 1992, worked was halted. The North's main benefactor the Soviet Union had dissolved a year earlier and funding for the hotel had vanished. For a time, the North airbrushed images of the Ryugyong Hotel from photographs.
As the North's economy took a deeper turn for the worse in the 1990s the empty shell became a symbol of the country's failure, earning nicknames "Hotel of Doom" and "Phantom Hotel."
Yonsei's Lee and other architects said there were questions raised about whether the hotel was structurally sound and a few believed completing the structure could cause it to collapse.
It would cost up to $2 billion to finish the Ryugyong Hotel and make it safe, according to estimates in South Korean media. That is equivalent to about 10 percent of the North's annual economic output.
Bruno Giberti, associate head of California Polytechnic State University's Department of Architecture, said the project was typical of what has been produced recently in many cities trying to show their emerging wealth by constructing gigantic edifices that were not related in scale to anything else around them.
"If this is the worst building in the world, the runners up are in Vegas and Shanghai," said Giberti." "North Korea's phantom hotel is stirring back to life. Once dubbed by Esquire magazine as "the worst building in the history of mankin... more -
Ever seen a creepier tower?
i can’t actually believe i’ve not written about this tower before today.
i saw it for the first time a few years back and still remember how initially confused i was. maybe i blocked it from my mind to prevent nightmares. then this morning i, for some reason, had a flashback to that very day of discovery and actually got annoyed with myself for not writing about it sooner. anyway, better late than never. we’ll start the photos from afar and then get closer with each picture as i want to make the experience as creepy as possible for you. i can’t actually believe i’ve not written about this tower before today. ... more -
UAE owns a piece of the NYC skyline
The Abu Dhabi Investment Council bought the Chrysler building for $800 million. I find it a bit strange that the United Arab Emirates own a piece of the big apple.
Apparently foreign acquisition of New York landmarks isn't a new phenomenon.
In May, a consortium of Middle Eastern countries purchased the General Motors building and three other midtown towers for $3.95bn. The Abu Dhabi Investment Council bought the Chrysler building for $800 million. I find it a bit strange that the United Arab Emirates ... more -
"The worst building in the history of mankind"
Pretty amazing in a sad way, built over 20 years ago the Ryugyong Hotel in North Korea has remained unfinished and vacant since day one of construction. The space invader like structure today ranks as the world's 22nd tallest skyscraper, costing the people of North Korea a fraction of their national GDP. Pretty amazing in a sad way, built over 20 years ago the Ryugyong Hotel in North Korea has remained unfinished and vacant since day on... more
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A Renaissance for Skyscrapers
As populations grow more people move from rural environments to more densely populated urban environs, the emotionally unstable and bespectacled "starchitects" of the world will stay busy. As populations grow more people move from rural environments to more densely populated urban environs, the emotionally unstable and be... more
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Whole-house thinking
The ‘whole-system thinking’ approach means working to find natural solutions to reduce our dependence on energy-intensive systems. Nature offers so many opportunities to heat, cool and illuminate our buildings
The ‘whole-system thinking’ approach means working to find natural solutions to reduce our dependence on energy-intensive systems. Nature offers so many opportunities to heat, cool and illuminate our buildings. The ‘whole-system thinking’ approach means working to find natural solutions to reduce our dependence on energy-intensive systems. Nat... more -
World's first rotating skyscraper
The 80-storey "Dynamic Tower," will be a shifting skyscraper of luxury apartments on spinning floors, which will be attached to a central column.
Plans for the project were unveiled in New York by Italian architect David Fisher, who said: "This building will have endless different shapes".
The 420-meter (1,378-foot) building features 80 apartments that spin a full 360 degrees around a central column by means of 79 power-generating wind turbines located between each floor
The 80-storey "Dynamic Tower," will be a shifting skyscraper of luxury apartments on spinning floors, which will be attached to a cent... more -
Dubai plans a 'moving' skyscraper
"The world's first moving building, a 80-storey tower with revolving floors giving an shifting shape, will be built in Dubai, its architect says.
The Dynamic Tower design is made up of 80 pre-fabricated apartments which will spin independently of one another.
"It's the first building that rotates, moves, and changes shape," said architect David Fisher, who is Italian, at a news conference in New York.
"This building never looks the same, not once in a lifetime," he added.
The 420-metre (1,378-foot) building's apartments would spin a full 360 degrees, at voice command, around a central column by means of 79 giant power-generating wind turbines located between each floor. "
Skyscrapers have moved before, but when they do, its kind of a one-time thing. "The world's first moving building, a 80-storey tower with revolving floors giving an shifting shape, will be built in Dubai, its arch... more -
Battersea Power Station just might turn out okay ...
London's Battersea Power Station has been lying derelict for the past couple of decades, but after several plans to turn this behemoth of a building in to something worthwhile floundered hopelessly in development, these latest plans seem actually pretty cool ... London's Battersea Power Station has been lying derelict for the past couple of decades, but after several plans to turn this behemoth... more
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Rotating tower in Dubai to generate 10x more power than it consumes
It is estimated that the tower will create 1,200,000 kilowatt-hours of energy every year from solar panels and wind turbines generating 10 times more energy than required to power it. It is estimated that the tower will create 1,200,000 kilowatt-hours of energy every year from solar panels and wind turbines generatin... more
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Chinese Are Left to Ask Why Schools Crumbled in Quake
The earthquake’s destruction of Xinjian Primary School was swift and complete. Hundreds of children were crushed as the floors collapsed in a deluge of falling bricks and concrete. Days later, as curiosity seekers came with video cameras and as parents came to grieve, the four-story school was no more than rubble.
In contrast, none of the nearby buildings were badly damaged. A separate kindergarten less than 20 feet away survived with barely a crack. An adjacent 10-story hotel stood largely undisturbed. And another local primary school, Beijie, catering to children of the elite, was in such good condition that local officials were using it as a refugee center.
“This is not a natural disaster,” said Ren Yongchang, whose 9-year-old son died inside the destroyed school. His hands were covered in plaster dust as he stood beside the rubble, shouting and weeping as he grabbed the exposed steel rebar of a broken concrete column. “This is not good steel. It doesn’t meet standards. They stole our children.”
There is no official figure on how many children died at Xinjian Primary School, nor on how many died at scores of other schools that collapsed in the powerful May 12 earthquake in Sichuan Province. But the number of student deaths seems likely to exceed 10,000, and possibly go much higher, a staggering figure that has become a simmering controversy in China as grieving parents say their children might have lived had the schools been better built.
The Chinese government has enjoyed broad public support for its handling of the earthquake, and in Sichuan on Saturday, Secretary General Ban Ki-moon of the United Nations praised the government’s response.
But as parents at different schools begin to speak out, the question of whether official negligence, and possibly corruption, contributed to the student deaths could turn public opinion. The government has launched an investigation, but censors, wary of the public mood, are trying to suppress the issue in state-run media and online.
An examination of the collapse of Xinjian Primary School offers a disturbing picture of a calamity that might have been avoided. Many parents say they were told the school was unsafe. Xinjian was poorly built when it opened its doors in 1992, they say, and never got its share of government funds for reconstruction because of its low ranking in the local education bureaucracy and the low social status of its students.
The earthquake’s destruction of Xinjian Primary School was swift and complete. Hundreds of children were crushed as the floors collaps... more -
Children In China Doomed by Substandard School Buildings
Coruption and the use of 'fragile building materials' are now the focus on the tragic death of thousands of children in schools that crumbled during the recent earthquakes in China. Coruption and the use of 'fragile building materials' are now the focus on the tragic death of thousands of children in schools that c... more
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Dubai will become city of supertowers
Move over Burj Dubai, and make room for a new generation of supertowers! Dubai, formerly known as the modest "city of merchants," has been laying out a new foundation for urban growth with gleaming new high-rises climbing vertically from the desert port. The Burj Dubai which opens in June 2009 will be the world's tallest skyscraper topping with 160 habitable floors. The mixed use residential and commercial tower will also unveil Armani's debut hotel. See the Burj Dubai site for further info here > http://www.burjdubai.com.
Meanwhile, eleven newer projects are planned in Dubai that will make up a new class of supertowers, rising upwards with more than 100 habitable floors each, including EP Site 09 (pictured). Find out more in this Gulf News article contributed by Business Editor Saifur Rahman (04 May 2008). Move over Burj Dubai, and make room for a new generation of supertowers! Dubai, formerly known as the modest "city of merchants," has ... more -
Choose 7 wonders of India
Indian is Well Known for it's Majestic Beauty and Marvellous Ancient MOnuments & Temples.
We Know have a chance to choose the Best of Them. Indian is Well Known for it's Majestic Beauty and Marvellous Ancient MOnuments & Temples. ... more -
Planet’s highest tower to be two miles high
As long as the world continues to watch the race of skyscrapers in United Arab Emirates, the most ambitious project of the highest building in the world is brewing in the United States. The building, dubbed as the Ultima Tower, will exceed the height of the world’s current highest building - Burj Dubai – five times.
It is not a new project at all. It appeared in 1991. The two-mile high building was designed by US-based company Tsui Design & Research. Its Director, Eugene Tsui (an American of Chinese origin) says that the Ultima Tower will leave all other highest buildings in the world far behind. It is going to reach the height of 3,219 kilometers with its 500 floors. A journey to the 500th floor will take 9 minutes and 40 seconds.
As long as the world continues to watch the race of skyscrapers in United Arab Emirates, the most ambitious project of the highest bui... more -
Frank Gehry's Guggenheim Abu Dahbi design ...
For those interested in Arch and wondering what Frank Gehry's been up to...
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The mile high building
If the plans go ahead, then Donald Trump's tallest building will be around four times shorter than Prince Alwaleed's mile high building. Alwaleed's Kingdom Holding Co. will soon invite bids by contractors to build a mile-tall mega-skyscraper in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, taller than four Empire State Buildings stacked upon each other. His company have put aside a budget of $10 billion for the tower.
The building will be so tall that guests staying at the top of the tower will get seasick if something isn't done to counter the wind. The world's tallest completed tower, the Taipei 101 in Taiwan, addressed the problem by hanging a 730-ton pendulum at the top of the building. The giant ball swings in the opposite direction of the upper floors to keep them steady. But at three times the height of the Taipei 101 the a mile-high tower must withstand even fiercer gusts.
There's no word on what this oil rich Prince plans to put in the tower. Seasick offices in the desert anyone?
If the plans go ahead, then Donald Trump's tallest building will be around four times shorter than Prince Alwaleed's mile high buildin... more -
Grass-Covered Building in Seoul, Korea
The real innovation will be the lawn mower they use to trim it up.
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Farmer Hides Castle From Building Inspectors
How does one hide a castle, you ask? With bales of hay, duh!
A farmer built an entire mock castle behind a screen of hay bales and lived there concealed for four years to evade planning regulations, officials said on Friday -- but it may be torn down anyway.
Robert Fidler hopes to take advantage of a provision of planning law that allows buildings without planning permission to be declared legal if no objections have been made after four years
But Reigate and Banstead Borough Council in Surrey is not impressed. How does one hide a castle, you ask? With bales of hay, duh! ... more
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