ARCHITECTURE

NIGHTMARE: 5 OVERBUDGET,
EMBARRASSING AND
UNSUCCESSFUL PROJEC
TS
October 10, 2016

We all read news about how the buildings are beautifully designed by renowned
architects. We even browse a lot of photographs of facades which are visually pleasing

and emotionally sophisticated. We all think that architecture assures high percentage of
success in delivering an impressive work of art which we cannot resist to ignore it. As a
result, everybody thinks that every piece of architecture can assure economic or social
success.
However, there are works of architecture that are unsuccessful, embarrassing, overbudgeted. Architects, governments or contractors would want to demolish it even it is
100% erected in the land. Now, they realized that those idea buildings, which they
brainstormed, planned and funded, should have been stayed in the paper forever.
Here are the 5 buildings which we want to demolish, yet we could not afford to demolish
it

NEW SOUTH CHINA MALL

DONGGUAN, CHINA

IMAGE VIA CNN

This mall is supposed to be one of a significant mall which Chinese could be proud of.
With 5 million square feet of shopping area, the mall can accommodate 2,350 stores,
making it the largest shopping center in the world in terms of rented space more than
twice the size of Mall of America, the biggest shopping center in the United States.
One thing they also boasted about is outside the mall, a giant Egyptian sphinx and a
replica of the Arc de Triomphe was erected alongside fountains and canals complete
with Venetian gondolas. It even boasted an indoor roller coaster.
Before the mall was constructed, they have full of aspirations and optimism for the
success of their mall. However, when the mall was opened on 2005, there were few
people came to the mall. They did not expect that this will happen.

The problem of this mall is the location. Dongguan is a factory town and most of its
almost 10 million inhabitants are migrant workers struggling to make ends meet. People
coming here to work in factories dont have the time or the money for shopping or the
roller coaster, said a migrant worker in his 20s, surnamed Xiao, who works at the mall.

People coming here to work in factories dont have the

time or the money for shopping or the roller coaster,
So, before getting excited on constructing your dream project, consider the location.

IMAGE VIA CNN

CIUDAD REAL CENTRAL AIRPORTCIUDAD REAL, SPAIN

IMAGE VIA CNN

The Ciudad Real Central Airport is a clear unsuccessful, embarrassing work of
architecture. The building cost 1.1billion and it was closed three years of operation.
With its final flight having taken off in 2011, its feature on a 2013episode of Top Gear is
likely the most action seen in the airports recent history. The airports initial owner filed
for bankruptcy with 300 million of debt, and the airport was finally sold this year for 56
million following a series of failed auctions, including one that saw a lone bid of a mere
10,000.

The problem of the government is financial support for the airport. Before the airport
was not constructed, the government believed that they can sustain the operation.
However, plans were not achieved.
So, before having an ambitious airport, determine how your project could last by
considering the financial capabilities of the owner.

IMAGE VIA GETTY

CITY OF NAYPYIDAWNAYPYIDAW, MYANMAR

IMAGE VIA THE GUARDIAN

Driving through Naypyidaw, the purpose-built capital of Burma, it could be easy to forget
that youre in the middle of one of south-east Asias poorest countries. On either side of
the street, a seemingly endless series of giant detached buildings, villa-style hotels and
shopping malls look like they have fallen from the sky, all painted in soft pastel colours:
light pink, baby blue, beige. The roads are newly paved and lined with flowers and

carefully pruned shrubbery. Meticulously landscaped roundabouts boast large

sculptures of flowers.
The only thing Naypyidaw doesnt have, it seems, is people. The vast highways are
completely empty and there is a stillness to the air. Nothing moves. Officially, the citys
population is 1 million, but many doubt this is anywhere close to the true figure. On a
bright Sunday afternoon, the streets are silent, restaurants and hotel lobbies empty. It
looks like an eerie picture of post-apocalypse suburban America; like a David Lynch film
on location in North Korea.(theguardian)

IMAGE VIA THE GUARDIAN

RYUGYONG HOTEL-PYONGYANG,
NORTH KOREA

IMAGE VIA FLICKR

It is an unfinished 105-story pyramid-shaped skyscraper in Pyongyang, North Korea. Its
name (capital of willows) is also one of the historical names for Pyongyang. The

building is also known as the 105 Building, a reference to its number of floors. The
building has been planned as a mixed-use development, which would include a hotel.
Construction began in 1987 but was halted in 1992 as North Korea entered a period
of economic crisis after the fall of the Soviet Union. After 1992 the building stood topped
out, but without any windows or interior fittings. In 2008 construction resumed, and the
exterior was completed in 2011. It was planned to open the hotel in 2012, the centenary
of Kim Il-sungs birth, but this did not happen. A partial opening was announced for
2013, but this was also cancelled. As of 2016, the building remains unopened

Today, nearly 30 years and an estimated $750 million

later, this looming, gleaming, futurist-modernist arrowhead
of a building is essentially a glorified telecommunications
antenna. The Daily Beast

IMAGE VIA THOUSANDWONDERS

CITY OF ARTS AND SCIENCESVALENCIA, SPAIN

IMAGE VIA FLICKR

Architect Santiago Calatrava has famously come under fire for his art complex in his
native town, both for its crumbling roof just eight years after completion and for
exceeding the original budget fourfold. Despite its tourist appeal and appearance in the
movie Tomorrowland, locals have been indifferent to the monumental complex. In an
alternate form of tourism, it was at one time a key stop on a Valenciawastefulness
tour that aims to show foreigners where their economic contributions are going. They
are interested to know where is the money, explained Miguel Angel Ferris Gil to
NPR when he ran the tour in 2013. And we go to show you where there isnt the money
at the public schools, at the hospitals.

The complex has also become a symbol of profligate

spending, financial mismanagement and waste, due to
large cost overruns and a large debt burden that the
region is struggling under.

IMAGE VIA TRAVELSORT