The North Korean Origins Of Renzo Piano’s Shard Tower

Stephen Smith
January 8, 2012
Logistics & Transportation, Places & Spaces, Policy

Apparently I’m not the only one who thinks London’s Shard skyscraper (shameless article-I-wrote-about-London-skyscrapers plug) looks like Pyongyang’s Ryugyong Hotel. Koryo Tours, the only tour group that offers westerners package to North Korea, plays up the similarities on its blog:

To the eyes of us all at Koryo Tours it looks like Renzo Piano has been copying Pyongyang…

(Note the following is not 100% accurate – but close!…

Stephen Smith

I graduated Spring 2010 from Georgetown undergrad, with an entirely unrelated and highly regrettable major that might have made a little more sense if I actually wanted to become an international trade lawyer, but which alas seems good for little else.

I still do most of the tweeting for Market Urbanism

Stephen had previously written on urbanism at Forbes.com. Articles Profile; Reason Magazine, and Next City

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