'Worst building in the history of mankind' gets a face lift

reuters ^ | 9/7/09

[mathprof]

A towering North Korean hotel which Esquire magazine once dubbed "the worst building in the history of mankind" has come back to life with a facade of shiny glass windows affixed to one side of the concrete monolith.

But few expect the North will ever finish construction of its 105-storey Ryugyong Hotel, started in 1987 and halted for 16 years because it could have bankrupted the destitute state.

"The hotel doesn't look as shoddy as it once did, probably because of the reflective glass," said a member of a civic group in South Korea that recently returned from a visit to the North.

The 330-meter (1,083 ft) tall hotel dominating the Pyongyang skyline 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.

Foreign residents of Pyongyang contacted in Seoul said Egypt's Orascom group began renovations last year.

The peak of the 3,000-room hotel, in a country that permits few foreigners to visit, is encircled in new rings of shiny steel. Mirrored glass has yet to be affixed to the other sides of the muddish-grey concrete structure, foreigner visitors said.

"North Koreans told me that you put the glass on one side and if all goes well and looks fine, you then continue on to the others," the civic group member said.

Analysts said the North was likely sprucing up the Ryugyong's facade as part of a campaign to try to turn the state into a "great and prosperous nation" by 2012.

The communist North started construction in a suspected 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.

But by 1992, worked was halted.

[Clemenza]

Looks like a more ornate version of the Biltmore Hotel in Miami.

Here is a Barocclassical monstrosity that made me want to vomit when I was in Italy. A "Wedding Cake" that gives me botulism.:

[Hoodlum91]

I fully expected to see Boston City Hall here.

[VOA]

I fully expected to see Boston City Hall here.

My guess was either the new Cathedral in Milwaukee or the
"Taj Mahoney" in downtown Los Angeles.

I'm not Catholic, and have been suprised at how large a chorus of
Catholics have loudly critized the architecture of both of these
Cathedrals.

[dead]

I watched the opening video. Fascinating. I’ll watch the rest at home. Thanks for the link.

[wardaddy]

helluva improvement

[wardaddy]

When the giant alien women arrive we will know where to find them...

[wardaddy]

I never liked Brasilia anyhow..desolate

[Clemenza]

Nelson Rockefeller was a fan of Niemeyer's Brasilia, which is why Albany now has the Empire State Plaza:

BTW: In building Brasilia, the government made the big mistake of building large, obstructed boulevards (a la Queens Boulevard aka the Boulevard of Death) throughout the city, making it one of the most dangerous cities for pedestrians.

[thefactor]

hey thats my hometown! i spent many a day and night at the Egg! you want Albany ugly? go up the street to the SUNY campus!

[wardaddy]

i did not realize you were in architecture

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

The Montgomery County (MD) Circuit Court Building. How's that for ugleeeeee?

[Clemenza]

Architectural appreciation and commercial aircraft appreciation are hobbies of mine. Living in New York and Chicago encouraged the former.

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

The HUD building in Washington, DC. Anuddah beauty pageant winnah!

[TexasRepublic]

“And what do they imagine will be served in the six empty restaurants, given that NK has no food?”

Why, they’ll serve up propaganda, of course.

[patton]

LOL. And I shudder to imagine what else.

[andy58-in-nh]

I hope no one minds, but I redesigned the Clinton Library the way I thought it ought to look in honor of the man's sterling contributions to our land and our culture:

[Lady Jag]

Boston’s biggest eyesore: City Hall named ‘World’s Ugliest Building’

By Michael Corcoran

Nov. 16, 2008  

In my college days I used to walk from my North End apartment to the Emerson College campus, which, for the most part stretches around the corner of Boylston and Tremont, just south of Boston Common.

Each time I made that walk, I was startled by a wondrous juxtaposition. From the century-old colonial architecture scattered throughout the city, to the tiny cobbled stone roadways that take one from Quincy Market to Little Italy, a stroll through Boston can truly seem like a trip to our simpler, storied past.

That is with one notable and unfortunate exception: Boston City Hall.

This monstrosity in architecture is in the heart of Boston proper at the Government Center Plaza, just a stones throw away from Fanuel Hall. The building is nine-level, horizontally-oriented brutalist design ( by Kallmann McKinnell & Knowles). It is a rectangle, I guess, but is an inverted pyramid in elevation.

It is doubtful a tourist would last 10 minutes in the Hub, without coming face-to-face with this albatross that was planted in some of city’s most treasured real estate more than 40 years ago. One cannot help but wonder: How is it possible that city officials allowed this to happen? Exactly how potent was the LSD that was evidently handed out at planning meetings in the early-1960s when this attempt to merge “Old and New Boston” first started.

Ugliness can be interpreted in countless different ways, but according to a recent report by VirtualTourist.com, the planet is starting to reach a consensus on at least one thing: no building on Earth is less attractive than Boston City Hall.

Virtual Tourist observed that the building gets routinely criticized for “its dreary façade” and “incongruity with the rest of the city’s more genteel architecture.” They listed City Hall as one, in their top ten list of the “Worlds Ugliest Building.”

This is not the first such dishonor for the building. In 2004 the Project for Public Spaces identified it as the worst single public plaza worldwide, out of hundreds of contenders.

Here is the rest of Virtual Tourists list of the World’s Ugliest Buildings.

2. Montparnasse Tower; Paris, France
3. LuckyShoe Monument; Tuuri, Finland
4. Metropolitan Cathedral; Liverpool, England
5. Port Authority Bus Terminal; New York City, New York
6. Torres de Colon; Madrid, Spain
7. Liechtenstein Museum of Fine Arts; Vaduz, Liechtenstein
8. Scottish Parliament Building; Edinburgh, Scotland
9. Birmingham Central Library; Birmingham, England
10. Peter the Great Statue; Moscow, Russia

[Zakeet]

I hope no one minds, but I redesigned the Clinton Library the way I thought it ought to look in honor of the man's sterling contributions to our land and our culture.

You're on the right track.

Now, if you could only:

• Put a pack of sleeping coon dogs under the overhang;
• Put the car up on blocks;
• Add another couple of cars, on blocks;
• Disassemble the engines and trannies and scatter them next to the car bodies;
• Stick in an outhouse -- in the front yard, of course;
• Put a water pump jack in next to the crapper, of course;
• Add an oil slick (from changing motor oil) to the creek;
• Park a beat up row boat next to the slick;
• Pound a lot of dents in the trailer;
• Hang out some wash by the front door;
• Park a pickup truck by the front door;
• Add some snuff stains to the driver's door;
• Add a few classy stickers to all the bumpers;
• Add thousands and thousands of flying insects everywhere;
• Place mounds of trash just about everywhere;
• Add a business sign -- something like "Bubba's Bait, Bibles and Beer" -- over the entrance;
• Place another sign titled "Fresh Gigged Frogs" next to the road.

Do all this in good taste, and you might just capture the essence of Bill and Hill.

[andy58-in-nh]

I love your suggestions. I see I'm gonna have to channel my Inner Bubba an' Git 'er Done!!