Because of its long history, the pyramid-shaped building was dubbed the ‘hotel of doom’
A gargantuan pyramid-shaped building in North Korean capital Pyongyang, known as “Hotel of Doom”, is set to open its doors in mid of next year after standing half-built for decades.
The 105-storey Ryugyong Hotel, the world’s tallest building of this nature, had been repeatedly delayed and stands as a symbol of the financial problems plaguing the impecunious country.
The construction of building began in 1986. it was originally scheduled to be opened in 1989 but the project was abandoned in 1992 due to country’s economic crises the following dissolution of the Soviet Union. The exterior construction of building recommenced in 2009.
Due to its towering structure, long and slothful construction process, the building was dubbed the “hotel of doom”.
In 2008, US Esquire magazine had regarded the project “Worst Building in the History of Mankind” citing the building is poorly constructed with inferior materials.
Reto Wittwer, the chief executive of the Kempinski group which will manage the giant gray building, said only 150 rooms on the top floors would be used as a hotel.
“It will become a multipurpose complex, with the three lowest floors used for the lobby, restaurants and a shopping centre, and the rest of the upper floors will be mostly used for offices,” Wittwer was quoted as saying by a Seoul’s Korea JoongAng Daily.
Wittwer said the exterior of building has been completed with $180 million, invested by an Egypt-based Orascom Telecom, which launched its mobile network in North Korea in 2008. The firm is now working on the interior.
Wittwer also suggested that the hotel would be a way for the government of getting access to the foreign currency. The United Nations have repeatedly imposed sanctions on North Korea thorough UN Security Council Resolutions to coerce them into suspending all activities in their ballistic missile and nuclear programs.
The doors of Hotel of Doom are likely to be opened on the 100th birth anniversary of the nation’s founder Kim il-sung next year.