North Korea’s Ryugyong Hotel: Ugliest Building on Earth?
It’s a rather dubious honor to be considered the ugliest of just about anything at all, but according to many, the 105-story Ryugyong Hotel in Pyongyang, North Korea appears to be the winner of the ugly building contest.
The Ryugyong Hotel with its 3,000 rooms has been described as a hideous and distorted version of a fairy-tale castle that dominates the city’s skyline and is so ugly that it is frequently air-brushed out of publicity shots of the city.
Construction began in 1987 (although no one knows why) but stopped in 1992. It is unlikely that it will ever be finished due to the fact that North Korea ran out of money and there is no tourist industry in the region.
Ryugyong Hotel remains an eyesore that should not to be viewed after eating. There it stands and will for many years to come, unfinished, unwanted, and very, very… ugly!
(Link)
By MDeeDubroff on 09-02-2009
Comment by David
February 9th, 2009 at 8:41 pm
That’s not a building, it’s a spaceship.
Comment by David
February 9th, 2009 at 10:31 pm
Hey morons, do your homework. Construction resumed on the hotel as far back as April of last year.
Comment by Karen
February 9th, 2009 at 11:30 pm
Actually I think it’s kinda cool looking….
Comment by jonbb
February 10th, 2009 at 12:52 am
I don’t think it’s ugly at all. It’s nicely designed.
Comment by David American
February 10th, 2009 at 7:57 am
Sure, a square building is so much more attractive.
Give me a break!
I applaud NK for the simple fact they thumb their nose at the rest of the world, starved 2 million to death in the 90’s, shoot people for saying bad things about KIS, bu yet they have the balls to construct a 105 story hotel. The reason it is taking so long is because Juche doesn’t believe in elevators.
Comment by David American
February 10th, 2009 at 7:59 am
I almost forgot – It looks like something the Mormons would build.
Comment by Bud Gallant
February 10th, 2009 at 8:45 am
“According to many”, where “many” = “South Korean shills”, it seems.
If this building was not in North Korea would this article even have been written?
Seems some people are trying to take cheap shots at the only Asian nation that has any balls in the world, and isn’t bending over aks asking to be spanked by their American sugar-daddies.
Nuclear bombs tend to create some ugly buildings, too. Maybe soon we’ll have a new contender for this dubious honor.
Comment by McGooglykins
February 10th, 2009 at 8:52 am
do you think they’re compensating for something?
Comment by DARKWING DUCK
February 10th, 2009 at 11:57 am
I wish you was sleeping right now, I knock you upside your head with a left hook make your ass wake up and take out that damn trash.
Comment by gswafford
February 10th, 2009 at 1:24 pm
So, who’s going to stay in it? I’m sure the travel industry in North Korea is just booming.
Comment by GinaMarie
February 10th, 2009 at 5:36 pm
Maybe it’s kinda ugly but the music it comes with is awesome!!!
Comment by Liliumking
February 10th, 2009 at 9:23 pm
LMAO looks like a giant ass prison!!
ugly- 4/5 stars
funny- 4/5 stars
weird- 3.5/5 stars
comfert- 0.5/5 stars
wanna go to prison here? 5/5 stars
please enjoy your stay ^_^
Comment by carryanne
February 11th, 2009 at 1:19 pm
Good call, it probably could be used for a prison. In China, they are referred to as Black Jails, places like hotels (there are far too many for actual tourists to occupy) are used to detain people who have beefs with the CCP. This of course is illegal according to Chinese law and so they of course deny that they exist….
Comment by Killergabo
February 11th, 2009 at 3:58 pm
hmm… looks like the american Stock Market…
Comment by ann
February 11th, 2009 at 8:55 pm
adding color would help a little. doubtful that the communists would paint it.
and i agree with killergabo, it does resemble the american stock market. XD
Comment by Harmony
February 12th, 2009 at 12:38 am
Honestly looking, it looks very bad.
Comment by nihilum
February 12th, 2009 at 8:38 pm
I think this building KICKS ASS.
Comment by BlackBerry Nachrichten
February 13th, 2009 at 2:14 pm
Okay, the glass, gold and glitter is missing, but looking at the shape it would perfectly fit for Las Vegas.
Why is it labelled ugliest building. Maybe the guy who put that label on it doesn’t like N-Korea so much. Neither do I, but there is no reason to insult them.
Comment by Noone
February 17th, 2009 at 10:32 am
Actually, it’s one of the coolest buildings I’ve ever seen. The hotel in Dubai is way uglier…
Comment by Tura Satana
February 20th, 2009 at 6:37 am
Well NK is trying to get that too.
Comment by RUKidding
February 20th, 2009 at 9:13 pm
RUKidding me ?
Boston City Hall is WAY uglier.
A poll of editors and readers on travel website VirtualTourist.com has identified the world’s 10 ugliest buildings.
“Some of these picks have all the charm of a bag of nails while others are just jaw-dropping in their complexity. Love them or hate them, the list is certainly entertaining,” said General manager Giampiero Ambrosi.
Source: news.yahoo.com
Having the dubious distinction of coming top of the list is Boston City Hall in the US state of Massachusetts.
The California site offered a sharp-tongued assessment of the Hub’s center of power.
“While it was hip for it’s time, this concrete structure now gets routinely criticized for its dreary facade and incongruity with the rest of the city’s more genteel architecture. Luckily, it’s very close to more aesthetically pleasing attractions.â€
Mayor Thomas M. Menino has sought for years to move City Hall, most recently pitching a move to the seaport, where it could anchor the growing district.
Comment by johnboy214
February 22nd, 2009 at 11:25 am
A building is usually ugly during construction…If they decide to cover this with glamourous material or marble etc AND if it was located in the USA or Europe it would be considered a Top Class Design. I don’t know many 3000-room hotels giving an “artistic” twist to the design.
Comment by dan
February 25th, 2009 at 4:47 pm
Why was it built?? -”No one knows why”??? I DO!
South Korea was able to build the world’s tallest towers (back then) – the Petronas Towers in Malaysia.
Shortly afterwards, NK thought it could beat the SK tower, so heavily invested into the tower, but unexpected rising costs lead to backruptsy and a halt on teh construction.
Comment by Jack the Bat
March 4th, 2009 at 4:04 am
I have a few sources for NK info, and what I’ve heard is that the building was intended as a functioning hotel, but the elevator-shafts were not designed correctly and elevators (lifts) cannot be installed, thus rendering the building useless. Competent elevator-engineers (who know as much or more about building-design than architects) were apparently not consulted. This sort of incompetence is not rare in NK, which is very good at some things, as pointed out by previous commenters, but not good at other things.
Of course this huge building is a tremendous loss of face, and photos of the area have reportedly been airbrushed so it does not appear. People I know who’ve been on tours of Pyongyang say that any mention of the building is simply ignored by the tour-guides. They just pretend it doesn’t exist.
North Korea is a strange place, but you knew that already.
JtB
Comment by thanr
March 6th, 2009 at 1:40 pm
It doesn’t look that bad.
Comment by Reiciello
March 10th, 2009 at 5:07 pm
it looks like a zit on the face of the planet.
but remarkably, I find it astonishing….
Comment by Dave
March 13th, 2009 at 2:59 pm
What Mormon building would that be? I’ve never seen them put up anything remotely like this.
With the way the Socialist revolution in America is heading, we might have state-sponsored monstrosities like this popping up all over the place soon.
Comment by Evil
March 22nd, 2009 at 9:06 pm
lolwut?
Comment by Robbie
March 29th, 2009 at 10:23 am
lolwin
Comment by nancy mitsuru g
April 16th, 2009 at 7:46 pm
ya me 2…i mean ireally dont c wat makes it so uglry…can anybody tell me..?
Comment by nancy mitsuru g
April 16th, 2009 at 7:49 pm
no its not….the hotel in dubai is actually pretyy!!
idk wat the f ur talking about…!
Comment by hahah
April 24th, 2009 at 6:22 am
At the top will be a giant toilet for Kim to use on the people staying inside.
Comment by Derek
April 28th, 2009 at 10:17 am
its a secret nuclear missile launch site
Comment by Er. Prithviraj
May 21st, 2009 at 1:07 pm
It's in north we would like to be their.Being a building planner,I think it's accomodating &caring ,love to be their.
can one have snaps of the view from the building. thank for reading &thinking @ it. mAke it lively. thank u.
Er.Prithviraj
Comment by Mijonju
June 16th, 2009 at 4:53 am
ya looks pretty good to me
Comment by DR
June 18th, 2009 at 2:14 am
your just saying that because the title say ugliest buildng. Quit lying to yourself!
Comment by John S.
June 25th, 2009 at 9:31 pm
the building itself is very unique and has an appealing, "eye-catchiness" about it, but taken within the context of it's environment, it sticks out too much like the sore thumb and not enough like the woman in the red dress…
Alpina Watches
Comment by Mike
June 26th, 2009 at 2:23 am
Wow, someone knows nothing at all… The Hotel resumed construction in April 2008. It has glass covering in some places around it now and is really starting to polish up quite nice… Great design as well despite Koreas lack of well everything.
Comment by DR m
July 3rd, 2009 at 12:47 pm
That someone is you!
Comment by Noah Lieske
July 9th, 2009 at 2:49 pm
I don't think it's ugly. Do I have a bad taste? Noah Lieske
Comment by Kev
July 23rd, 2009 at 9:34 am
Y don't u think that putting in glass on put the elevator in the middle would make it awesome?
What I think is that they need a little more time to complete the building or so. Cause' if they do, this would stack up the top 10 world's best building design.
Comment by bryony
August 8th, 2009 at 4:13 pm
I don't see anything ugly about it. Of course, I live in San Francisco, which has a functional pyramid. Too bad NK can't finish its own. If you want to see ugly buildings, you have to go to Dallas. Don't miss the zippy-slippy side-slide building, the green building, the marble outdoor latrine — I mean monument — memorializing JFK, and MORE!
Comment by David
December 1st, 2009 at 4:09 pm
I saw it on the official site http://www.ryugyonghotel.com , it looks like a pyramid! But I think if it will be fully cladded it would look quite OK eventually.
Comment by jay
December 4th, 2009 at 12:37 am
it would have been the best–looking hotel in the world if it's in vegas
Comment by humods
December 17th, 2009 at 7:31 pm
Construction began in 1987 (although no one knows why).
1980 Kim Jong-il, known to be a big western movie buff elevated to the job of party secretary.
1983 "Blade Runner" featuring a future Los Angeles dotted with big pyramid-like buildings is released.
1987 Ground breaking for a big pyramid-like building in Pyongyang.
Comment by Phil
January 26th, 2010 at 11:58 am
It is actually not that ugly.Everything deserves it's own recognition on a positive side.
Comment by Mr. Frank Black
January 29th, 2010 at 5:06 pm
Honestly, I'd like to see what it looks like finished. Just the mystery of the building in such a mysterious country makes it intriguing. It looks ancient and alien, like some futuristic drawing. I've definitely seen worse and it really is a neat looking building. I'd be curious with North Korea's economy, isolation and government how they're going to attract any outsiders to visit and occupy the hotel.
Comment by @anwest1
February 3rd, 2010 at 4:39 pm
Who is ever going to live in that building? First of all, the building wont have any elevators and second there's barely no tourism in North Korea. If you look at the Wikipedia page about the hotel you'll see that it's almost covered with glass now. But what about the inside? It's probably just being decorated for the external view (so they don't need to remove it from photos etc), no one is ever going to live inside of it.