Ryugyong Hotel, North Korea
The Ryugyong Hotel is a sharp-angled, pyramid-shaped skyscraper in Pyongyang, North Korea. At a height of 330m (just 6m taller than the Eiffel Tower) and 105 storeys, it is the tallest structure in North Korea by a considerable margin. After a construction period of nearly 30 years and an estimated $750 million, it may have been finally finished but remains unoccupied; currently the tallest unoccupied building in the world according to the Guinness Book of Records.
Three wings, each measuring 100m long, slope at a 75-degree angle and converge to form a sharp pinnacle. A truncated cone 40m wide, consisting of eight floors that are intended to rotate, tops the building, followed by a further six static floors.
The hotel was conceived in the 1980s by Kim Il Sung, the supreme leader of the country from its establishment in 1948 until his death in 1994. The aim was to create a monumental building that would showcase the country’s might and ambition to the world. The project was intended to incorporate a hotel containing 3,000 rooms, a casino, and revolving restaurants on the top storeys.
Construction work began in 1987 and, had it been completed according to plan by 1989, would have been one of the ten tallest buildings in the world, and the tallest hotel in the world.
The building's entirely concrete frame was completed in 1989 but work was halted in 1992 as the fall of the Soviet Union, which had been North Korea’s chief benefactor, sent the country into a period of economic crisis. In 2008, construction resumed with new contractors who completed the exterior by 2011. However, the successive planned openings of 2012, and then 2013, were cancelled. Since then, the hotel has remained empty and off-limits, apparently little more than a shell. Some estimates have put the investment needed to restart construction at US$2 billion (roughly equal to 7% of North Korea’s GDP).
The scale of the building means that its height was not surpassed by any new hotel until 2009 with the completion of the Rose Tower in Dubai. Some foreign media sources have labelled the project the ‘Hotel of Doom’, while Esquire magazine described it as ‘the worst building in the world … the closest humans have come to building a Death Star’.
[edit] Related articles on Designing Buildings Wiki
- Atlantis, The Palm.
- Building of the week series.
- CCTV Headquarters.
- Calakmul Corporate Building, Mexico.
- Habitat 67.
- Hotel.
- Luxor Las Vegas.
- Monument and context.
- Nakagin Capsule Tower.
- Shanghai Tower.
- Tallest buildings in the world.
- Tempe Municipal Building.
- The Shard.
- Unusual building design of the week.
- Vrindavan Chandrodaya Mandir.
[edit] External resources
Featured articles and news
Top 50 firms awarded 52bn of projects in the last year
New engineering data shows.
Enhancing construction site reporting efficiency
Through digitisation and the digital revolution.
Noise in the built environment
BSRIA guide TG 20/2021.
17,000 people suffer conditions as a result of exposure to excessive noise at work.
Turning down the noise: Auditory health
A pervasive risk with far-reaching consequences.
UK Construction Week, London is here !
Debuting major international pavilions and much more.
Getting the most out of heat pumps and heating
How heat pumps work and how they work best.
Plumbing and heating for successful retrofit and renovation
Low temperature underfloor systems and heat pumps.
Cost-of-living crisis and home improvement plans
Starting on the right footing and top tips for projects.
Delays on construction projects
Types, mitigation and the acceleration of works.
From Chaucer to Fawlty Towers.
Electrotechnical excellence, now open for entries.
Net zero electricity grids BSRIA guide NZG 5/2024
Outlining the changes needed to transition to net zero.
CIOB Global Student Challenge 2024
Universitas Indonesia wins for second year running.
ECA 2024 Apprentice of the Year Award
Entries open for submission until May 31.