enthalpy

Tuesday, October 26, 2004


What a bizarre hotel this is. I can't imagine that anyone would lay down this kind of money to build a structure this odd-looking. Meet the Ryugyong Hotel in Pyongyang [thanks, Agitator.]
The North Korean government began construction of the building in 1987 at an estimated cost of $750 million, or 2% of the country's GDP. For comparison, 2% of the US GDP would be about $220 billion. Ryugyong was a massive undertaking for such a poor country.

Work was halted in 1992, and nobody knows exactly why. Some say that it was for financial reasons; the DPRK economy was a disaster even then, and 1992 was about the time that widespread famine and electricity shortages began to kick in. Others say that the building isn't structurally sound due to the use of poor-quality concrete, and that it literally cannot be completed. At one point it was rumored that the North Korean government was trying to raise foreign capital to pay for major structural renovations, so the truth might lie somewhere in between.
What an ominous stalagmite hanging over the city. And I thought my country was good at wasting money.



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