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Troll_Bait
Joined: 04 Jan 2006
Location: [T]eaching experience doesn't matter much. -Lee Young-chan (pictured)
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 Posted: Sun May 27, 2007 12:38 am Post subject: South Korea joins rush to build ever taller buildings |
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http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/05/26/asia/27skyscraper-web.php
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South Korea joins rush to build ever taller buildings
On a stretch of reclaimed land, near where General Douglas MacArthur's forces came ashore during the Korean War, this city will build a towering monument to its rising ambitions: twin skyscrapers reaching 2,013 feet into the sky, higher than the tallest building in the world today.
Developers in neighboring Seoul responded by increasing the height of a skyscraper they were planning by 66 feet. In December, the chief of a Seoul ward announced an even more grandiose plan to erect a 220-story building that, at almost 3,200 feet, would be twice as high as the Sears Tower in Chicago.
Incheon and Seoul are part of one of the biggest booms in tall-building construction since the skyscraper appeared more than a century ago, a rush spreading from established tower magnets like Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Shanghai and Hong Kong to lesser-known cities across fast-rising East Asia and the Gulf.
Awash with cash from South Korea's economic takeoff, Incheon and Seoul are being joined in the building rush by Busan, which also plans two skyscrapers of more than 100 stories. In the Middle East, Mecca and Doha are building soaring new towers. So are a half dozen lesser-known cities in China, including Tianjin, Guangzhou and Wenzhou. Experts say the next wave of skyscraper proposals could come from economically booming India.
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Page Two
http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/05/26/asia/27skyscraper-web.php?page=2
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[ ... ]
In South Korea, the burst of economic and nationalist passion has borne proposals for a dozen super-tall buildings. Some, experts say, may never break ground, but others seem certain.
The $3 billion twin Songdo Incheon Towers will be the centerpiece of a 13,000-acre urban development, called the Songdo International City. Estimated to cost tens of billions of dollars, the project is the product of this gritty port city's ambition to transform itself into a transportation and high-technology research hub. Incheon officials hope the towers will replace MacArthur's epic landing as a symbol for the city.
"All international cities have landmark towers," said Lee Seung-joo, a senior project manager of the 151-story Incheon towers, scheduled for completion by 2013. "A landmark tower is like a brand. These towers will be Incheon's brand to the world."
Strong public interest here attests to South Korea's desire for global recognition.
"A tall building means pride," said Kim Sang-dae, a professor of architectural engineering at Korea University in Seoul. "It is a message to the world, that we are now equal to you and that we are not a poor country anymore."
There has been little popular opposition here, even from the sorts of neighborhood preservation groups that commonly battle such projects in the United States. So far, the biggest opponent has been the Korean Air Force, which worries that the structures will block its flight paths.
Instead, attention seems to be on who gets the grandest new monument. In Seoul, the planned 151-story Yongsan Landmark Building, at 2,046 feet, will tower over all the city's existing structures, and even some nearby mountain peaks.
"Seoul is the capital, so it must have the tallest building," said Han Bong-seok, an executive at Korea Railroad, the national railway company, who heads the project to build the tower on the site of an old train yard. "This is for the pride of Seoul." |
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Ozabout7or8
Joined: 04 May 2007
Location: NZ
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| Posted: Sun May 27, 2007 12:43 am Post subject: |
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| I think it is fantastic...what kind of conversation were you after about the building of these buildings? |
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Mr Crowley
Joined: 23 Mar 2006
Location: Suwon
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| Posted: Sun May 27, 2007 2:29 am Post subject: |
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| They mention "pride" too much in the article. |
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thepeel
Joined: 08 Aug 2004
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| Posted: Sun May 27, 2007 2:31 am Post subject: |
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| Well, it was about South Korea. Pride is a very big part of the culture. |
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postfundie
Joined: 28 May 2004
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| Posted: Sun May 27, 2007 5:05 am Post subject: |
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| I was so hoping they'd make a building with 69 floors |
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Guri Guy
Joined: 07 Sep 2003
Location: Bamboo Island
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| Posted: Sun May 27, 2007 8:04 am Post subject: |
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| As long as they do it right, good for them. If it's done 빨리빨리 style then they better pray an earthquake doesn't hit here. |
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Tony_Balony
Joined: 12 Apr 2007
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| Posted: Mon May 28, 2007 5:00 am Post subject: |
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| There a very few times when I'm hesitant to enter a tall building due to saftey but now in Korea, where the good ol boys take kickbacks like they take naps, they might just pull a Dr. Hwang and have a tower topple in the most embarrasing way. |
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jinju
Joined: 22 Jan 2006
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| Posted: Mon May 28, 2007 5:02 am Post subject: |
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| Tony_Balony wrote: |
| There a very few times when I'm hesitant to enter a tall building due to saftey but now in Korea, where the good ol boys take kickbacks like they take naps, they might just pull a Dr. Hwang and have a tower topple in the most embarrasing way. |
Well if you consider who is building the Burj Dubaj and who built one of the Petronas towers, you are probably way off on those fears. |
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splok
Joined: 30 Jan 2006
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| Posted: Mon May 28, 2007 8:31 am Post subject: |
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| jinju wrote: |
| Tony_Balony wrote: |
| There a very few times when I'm hesitant to enter a tall building due to saftey but now in Korea, where the good ol boys take kickbacks like they take naps, they might just pull a Dr. Hwang and have a tower topple in the most embarrasing way. |
Well if you consider who is building the Burj Dubaj and who built one of the Petronas towers, you are probably way off on those fears. |
A company will get away with whatever it can get away with, so I would think the project oversight and the regulations of whatever area the building is being built in would have as much or more of an impact on safety as the company that is doing the construction. Would a Korean company build a building in New York the same way they would build one in Seoul? Not very likely.
The Petronas Towers began construction in 1995, the same year of the Sampoong Department Store collapse
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After the collapse, the South Korean government conducted a check on all buildings in the country, with shocking results. The study revealed that:
* One seventh of the country's high-rise buildings required rebuilding.
* 80% of the country's buildings required major repair work.
* Only one in 50 of the country's buildings were deemed safe.
* 98% of the country's buildings were affected. |
Of course, I'm sure things are much better now, but to think that they're all happy and rosy? Erm... |
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jinju
Joined: 22 Jan 2006
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| Posted: Mon May 28, 2007 3:45 pm Post subject: |
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| splok wrote: |
| A company will get away with whatever it can get away with, so I would think the project oversight and the regulations of whatever area the building is being built in would have as much or more of an impact on safety as the company that is doing the construction. Would a Korean company build a building in New York the same way they would build one in Seoul? Not very likely. |
Then you have no grasp on reality. Guess how much profit Samsung is going to make from building the Burj.....Ill tell you: VERY little. Infact construction companies take these sorts of projects on for a very different reason: Exposure and prestige. To have your name tied to a prestigious project like a super tall or a mega tall skyscraper is better than financial profit because it raises your company's stature. Imagine then a scenario where a mega tall collapeses due to company negligence. Do you think a MULTINATIONAL like Samsung construction would survive such a blow?
You display a basic lack of understanding of this business.
Yes, and? They have nothing to do with one another for reasons I already posted. |
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splok
Joined: 30 Jan 2006
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| Posted: Mon May 28, 2007 7:32 pm Post subject: |
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Sorry, but if you think a building built in Seoul and a building built in New York by the same Korean company will be built to the same quality standards, then you're the one lacking a grasp on reality and business sense.
Is Samsung going to build a building that's going to fall over the next day? I would hope not, but to think that construction quality is equal everywhere just out of the kindness of Samsung's heart? I don't think so. I said company's do what they can get away with (or what they think they can get away with most likely), and in Korea, they can get away with more than in some places. Of course, if their building falls over, they didn't exactly get away with it. The problems happen when they're wrong about how many corners they can cut. |
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jinju
Joined: 22 Jan 2006
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| Posted: Mon May 28, 2007 7:57 pm Post subject: |
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Who says abything is done out of the goodness of someone's heart. We arent talking about just another tall scraper, we are talking about the tallest building in the world. Something that Samsung will be judged on and which will either bring them more business or will drive business away. Sompanies of that stature, who go after such projects know the stakes of the game. Fierce competition will ensure the building is built well because Samsung's competitors will not simply give up the fight. Its pure capitalistic competition..isnt it beautiful?
And who says bulding in the US are built to the highest standards anyway? Asia is building not only taller buildings but more technologically advanced ones as well. American scrapers are lagging behind not only in terms of height but also in terms of quality. |
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venus
Joined: 25 Oct 2006
Location: Near Seoul
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| Posted: Mon May 28, 2007 9:48 pm Post subject: |
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| This whole tallest building thing is so "My d*ck is bigger than yours, na na na na na..." |
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jinju
Joined: 22 Jan 2006
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| Posted: Mon May 28, 2007 9:54 pm Post subject: |
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| venus wrote: |
| This whole tallest building thing is so "My d*ck is bigger than yours, na na na na na..." |
Acvtually its not, but then again, you probably think space program is pointless too. Hey, you probably think anything that pushes the boundries of what we can do is pointless. |
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venus
Joined: 25 Oct 2006
Location: Near Seoul
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| Posted: Mon May 28, 2007 10:01 pm Post subject: |
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| jinju wrote: |
| venus wrote: |
| This whole tallest building thing is so "My d*ck is bigger than yours, na na na na na..." |
Acvtually its not, but then again, you probably think space program is pointless too. Hey, you probably think anything that pushes the boundries of what we can do is pointless. |
Yeah, yeah the building of a sky scraper near Incheon is very related to the space programme, yes, yes. That was the first thing I thought of when I read about it, yes, yes. Of course I should have known just how obvious it was that my post showed that despite not knowing me ANYONE would be able to see that it represented my subconscious deire to suppress mankind pushing it's boundaries... yes, yes.
It's amazing how CLEAR things become (even your own mind) once you've had Jinu's perspective on them!!!!! |
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