BUILDING CONTROVERSY IN KOREA

A new building being erected in Seoul, South Korea is causing international controversy and is getting its design team a sea of death threats.  Can you see why?  If not, take a good look at the photo above. Now take a good look at the photo below:

The new luxury building was designed by the Dutch architectural firm MVRDV and is slated for completion in 2015. In addition to its 2 twin towers, it will also feature a “cloud” connecting the 2 buildings at the 27th floor, which will house a large connecting atrium, a wellness center, various pools, restaurants and cafes.  And it has a whole lot of people angry.

Many say the towers and the connecting cloud look much too similar to the explosive scene at the World Trade Center on 9/11 after 2 planes flew directly into the twin towers.  But the designers claim any similarity is a mere coincidence.  Hmmm…

Since the design was unveiled, hundreds of outraged citizens of the world have flooded the company’s Facebook page to lodge their displeasure. “A real media storm has started and we receive threatening emails and calls of angry people calling us al Qaeda lovers or worse,” the company said.  Once such Facebook post came from Lance Henley, who wrote, “It looks like the WTC exploding on impact, how could anyone be such a moron…if it goes up it’ll come down just as fast.”

But not everyone is offended by the design. According to Ricky Arellano: “Everyone should remember that the World doesn’t revolve around the U.S. or 9/11. They have their own things going on to think about and worry about to honestly remember what the buildings looked like coming down and all that. Stop acting like the world revolves around the U.S.” 

The architechtural firm has since apologized for any confusion, but they have no plans whatsoever of cancelling the project or changing the design.