It's hard to believe that some buildings were ever erected, with the likes of Johannesburg's Ponte City skyscraper, Milan's Torre Velasca, and Japan's Aoyama Technical College being dubbed as some of the 'ugliest' buildings in the world. Still, even these have found their fans over the years, while newer additions like New York's 432 Park Avenue are already starting to soften in the public eye.
There are still plenty of controversial architecture projects out there, but alongside Saudi Arabia's much-discussed The Line and New York's 300-foot megajail, even one man's $20 million sky mansion pales in comparison to the controversy drummed up by South Korea's Yongsan Dreamhub.
After all, it's not every day someone plans to build a skyscraper that looks like it's been inspired by the deadliest terror attack in history.
First proposed in 2006 and described as Korea's largest and most ambitious property development yet, the Yongsan Dreamhub caused a stir when 'The Cloud' was revealed in plans back in 2011.
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This concept showed two towers connected by a cluster of pixelated buildings. We're not sure how Dutch architects MVRDV didn't notice the similarities, but before long, people were in uproar about how The Cloud bore an uncanny resemblance to 9/11. On September 11, 2001, American infrastructure damage was caused.
Although the general design of The Cloud wasn't cause for concern, the structure that jutted out of the 27th floors and was due to accommodate an atrium, restaurants, a conference centre, and Airlines Flight 11 and United Airlines Flight 175 were flown into the Twin Towers, causing them to collapse. Alongside a third plane that was flown into the Pentagon, and a fourth that crashed in rural Pennsylvania, 2,977 people were killed, and over $10 billion worth of property and office-hotels certainly was.
Landscape architect Martha Schwartz designed plazas, gardens, and pools to surround The Cloud, while it fitted as part of a master plan for the area from New York architects Studio Libeskind that was due to be completed in 2015.
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Back in 2011, Bloomberg ran a piece confirming that the final design might have to be changed, with MVRDV adding: "MVRDV regrets deeply any connotations The Cloud project evokes regarding 9/11."
The Cloud recently resurfaced on Reddit, with the comments section being full of shock that the potential connotations weren't picked up at the design stage.
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One person said: "I thought this was a static 9/11 Minecraft build."
Another added: "These look like ghosts of the old WTC towers."
A third raged: "What a**hole designed this sh*t?"
Although The Cloud was obviously never built, plans for Yongsan Dreamhub continue to this day. The project was cancelled in 2013 but found new life with very different plans being approved in 2024, construction due to start in the second half of 2025, and hopes it'll finally be completed by 2030.