By Is it just me or does this thing floating around in the Han River just looks ugly?:
One of the three artificial islets from the Seoul Metropolitan Government’s “Floating Island” project is set afloat on the Han River near the Dongjak Bridge on Saturday. The islet with a three-story structure, named Viva, is the second largest of the three, with the base measuring 85 meters (279 feet) long, 49 meters wide and 3 meters high. It weighs in at 2,000 tons. It will be used mainly for entertainment and cultural events. The photos show the process of launching the islet, which took five hours and 20 minutes in total for completion. [Joong Ang Ilbo]
5:34 pm on February 11th, 2010 1
why?
6:12 pm on February 11th, 2010 2
Is it just me or does this thing floating around in the Han River just looks ugly?:
Well, it's not finished yet. (And admittedly, it could get uglier.)
11:47 pm on February 11th, 2010 3
I would like to remind the people of the ROK that you are not obliged to enter a contest with the DPRK to come up with the more hideous unavoidable landmark for your capital.
If you are making me think–"Oh, how neat! It looks like a crappy jungle gym for Lady Liberty!"–then you might be doing it wrong.
12:17 am on February 12th, 2010 4
This pork project should have been painted pink, not orange.
9:29 am on February 14th, 2010 5
Wasn't there something in the paper about the government planning to hold one of those big multinational, governmental conferences on such "soon-to-be-made" island?
If they do it right, it might be beneficial in terms of Seoul gaining and holding such future events – which does bring money and some urban renewal to cities (like getting the Olympics…).
I'm thinking mainly here about the influence fear of protests (and the bad image riots can give a city (nation)) can have on where such events are held….
Look at Seattle vs Savannah with the big economic conferences….(forget exactly which ones in each case…..G-8 I think for Savannah and WTO for Seattle???)
Post-9/11 terrorism fears (and stricter laws) had an influence on how quiet Savannah was compared to Seattle, but Savannah was held on an island (non-man-made) in the middle of a river…..which greatly helped in disrupting potential disruptions.
I seem to remember several of these big multinational conferences – that have been fat, juicy targets for disruption in the past – have been held more and more at such isolatable locations…..
….Why would a city want to host such events if it means commerce is going to be shut down due to a high likelihood of riots and property damage (along with the post-9/11 gigantic costs in terrorism (and riot) prevention + terrible global news coverage) instead of bringing in money and a positive image?
Look back at Pusan with the WTO some years ago….
If the man-made islands in the Han can help prevent fairly easy rioting that has happened so often in the past in South Korea, (as well as doing other useful to semi-useful things) then they will have severed some purpose….
2:27 pm on February 14th, 2010 6
This thing fits in with the other "objects" floating in the Han. At least it isn't as smelly.