Real Life archology?, those crazy north koreans... Options

[hobgoblin]

http://ryugyonghotel.com/

Didn't know this place existed until today.

I find myself wondering how well such a design can stand up to say earthquakes...

[Reg06]

I find myself wondering how well such a design can stand up to say earthquakes...

Well? It's been there for quite some time, and has a good shape for earthquake resistance.

[CanRay]

Yeah, but does it have a bunch of nuclear reactors in the basement, and an AI running the whole deal? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nyahnyah.gif)

[TheScrivener]

Wow. $750 million on a 3,000 room luxury hotel in a country that can't feed its people... every time I learn something new about North Korea I get more confused.

[Karoline]

I prefer the Japanese design, it is at least set up to be self sufficient.

[hobgoblin]

I prefer the Japanese design, it is at least set up to be self sufficient.

Yep, this would be more of a re-purposing. It was just that the first thought when seeing the photos was the renraku arc, if in skeleton only.

[hobgoblin]

Wow. $750 million on a 3,000 room luxury hotel in a country that can't feed its people... every time I learn something new about North Korea I get more confused.

And soviet russia built a subway station that looks like the dance hall of a palace. Never underestimate the prestige angle on something...

[Karoline]

And soviet russia built a subway station that looks like the dance hall of a palace. Never underestimate the prestige angle on something...

And remember that 'prestige' means 'frivolous expenditures'

Still, on the hotel, I'd expect them to make their money back, so it isn't that bad.

I mean, say $1000 a night on a room (And that isn't even the expensive ones) with 3k rooms. That's 3 mil a night, which means that it would pay for itself in under a year. Now, that isn't counting electricity, staff pay, and so on, but even if you figure that eats 75% of the income, you're looking at the hotel paying for itself in 3 years.

Economically it makes sense.

[hobgoblin]

Makes me think that whatever is turning Dubai into a city of hotels is thinking basically the same thing...

[capt.pantsless]

And remember that 'prestige' means 'frivolous expenditures'

Still, on the hotel, I'd expect them to make their money back, so it isn't that bad.

I mean, say $1000 a night on a room (And that isn't even the expensive ones) with 3k rooms. That's 3 mil a night, which means that it would pay for itself in under a year. Now, that isn't counting electricity, staff pay, and so on, but even if you figure that eats 75% of the income, you're looking at the hotel paying for itself in 3 years.

Economically it makes sense.

If you want to pay $1000 a night to stay in a hotel that may or may not have electricity. And this is a country that isn't exactly welcoming to foreigners.

[Mongoose]

And remember that 'prestige' means 'frivolous expenditures'

Still, on the hotel, I'd expect them to make their money back, so it isn't that bad.

I mean, say $1000 a night on a room (And that isn't even the expensive ones) with 3k rooms. That's 3 mil a night, which means that it would pay for itself in under a year. Now, that isn't counting electricity, staff pay, and so on, but even if you figure that eats 75% of the income, you're looking at the hotel paying for itself in 3 years.

Economically it makes sense.

It makes sense in a country with a strong tourism industry. North Korea is ... not a tourist destination.

[KarmaInferno]

Makes me think that whatever is turning Dubai into a city of hotels is thinking basically the same thing...

Dubai was attempting to build a financial industry and a tourist infrastructure in order to switch away from being an oil-dependent economy. Their leadership recognized that the oil wasn't going to last forever, and they needed to find other sources of revenue for the future.

The problem is, they went bankrupt before they could get anywhere near those goals.

North Korea has no such excuse. It's just a prestige project, much the same way they built a special radio tower on the border JUST so it would be taller than the one that was on the South Korean side.



-k

[CanRay]

North Korea has no such excuse. It's just a prestige project, much the same way they built a special radio tower on the border JUST so it would be taller than the one that was on the South Korean side.
-k

In other words, Kimmy has an issue with compensating for something.

[Reg06]

Wow. $750 million on a 3,000 room luxury hotel in a country that can't feed its people... every time I learn something new about North Korea I get more confused.

These won't help with that.

[Marcus]

Keep in mind who your dealing with. NK's leadership is completely obsessed with the appearance of strength. Their propaganda and cult of personality makes Mao's look like fan club. The Hotel is just another of their models, just like 12 lane high ways with no one to use them, 4 captured invasion tunnels. All of it just shows that NK strategy is focused upon appearance over substance. Lets face it if the only reason your nation exists is b/c China likes having a radical puppet state to play stalking horse for it. If you were part of that leadership you must have some serious trouble sleep at night. (Never mind killing 10% of your population through starvation and creating a a whole generation of stunted children.)

[MJBurrage]

The Renraku Arcology—according to Shutdown—has a base 780 × 650 meters, and a height of 969 meters. Its design is a truncated pyramid, and based on the preponderance of the illustrations of the building, I would estimate that the roof dimensions are about half the base (and thus the roof area is ¹/₄ the base). All of that gives us a building with a volume of ~286.6 million m³.

The Ryugyong Hotel has a roof height of 330 m, and 105 floors for an average floor height of ~3 m. It also has a total floor area of ~360,000 m², for a volume of ~1.1 million m³.

To compare, the Sears Tower has a volume of ~1.5 million m³. This means that the Renraku Arcology has a volume equal to ~190 Sears Towers, or ~260 Ryugyong Hotels.

[MJBurrage]

Quadruple post 2/4

[MJBurrage]

Quadruple post 3/4 (apparently logging in after a bad disconnect can also trigger this, too bad the admins can't/don't delete them.)

[MJBurrage]

Quadruple post 4/4

[CanRay]

The Renraku Arcology—according to Shutdown—has a base 780 × 650 meters, and a height of 969 meters. Its design is a truncated pyramid, and based on the preponderance of the illustrations of the building, I would estimate that the roof dimensions are about half the base (and thus the roof area is ¹/₄ the base). All of that gives us a building with a volume of ~286.6 million m³.

This means that the Renraku Arcology has a volume equal to ~190 Sears Towers, or ~260 Ryugyong Hotels.

Or two Wal-Marts. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nyahnyah.gif)

[Neraph]

In other words, Kimmy has an issue with compensating for something.

Whatever gave you that idea?

[Draco18s]

Whatever gave you that idea?

I like #1. Although 10, 8, 7, and 6 are good too.

[Daddy's Litt...]

The North Koreans work on the Stalinist ideal that if they make something big enough and impressive enough everyone will say 'ooo' and be impressed and not notice the starving masses, the brain washed intelligensia or the police state. Like how they delude themselves that if they tell the people Kim Jung-Un is "brilliant" the people will say it is so and not question the "brilliance" of a 27 year old who clearly is not suffering from the food shortages of the masses.

When the Party congress occurred the BBC news showed youths ball room dancing before the hall. the commentator declared "They express the wish for better times ahead, that won't be too hard."

[KarmaInferno]

Eh, calling them Stalinist, Communist, or even Socialist is an insult to those types of governments.

North Korea is a straight up dictatorship.




-k

[Snow_Fox]

Stalinist level of control but most media's in the area, except China, are starting to call it a monarchy.

For Korea watchers that place is infamous. It actually gets put prominantly in some pictures and in some official pictures it is clearly...removed or angled out depending on whether the project is in favor at the time. Typical of Kim Jung mentally-ill they seem to think if they tell people it's not there, they will forget the last official pic that did in fact show it. I'm not kidding! try reading for of their official sites. The self delusional horn blowing would be laughable if it wasn't for the suffering going on under it.

It was started as a testament to the workers paradise and it has become just that, the gigantic example of all that is North Korea. Big dreams but cold and unfinished and a white elephant of unparralleld proprotions designed to make the beloved leader look powerful instead of using the same resources to help the people.