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Unfinished building

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Unity Tower, a high-rise building in Kraków, Poland, sat in an unfinished state from 1981 until 2016 when construction restarted.

An unfinished building is a building (or other architectural structure, as a bridge, a road or a tower) where construction work was abandoned or on hold at some stage or only exists as a design. It may also refer to buildings that are currently being built, particularly those that have been delayed or at which construction work progresses extremely slowly.

Many construction or engineering projects have remained unfinished at various stages of development. The work may be finished as a blueprint or whiteprint and never be realised, or be abandoned during construction.

One of the best-known perennially incomplete buildings is Antoni Gaudí's basilica Sagrada Família in Barcelona.[1] It has been under construction since 1882 and planned to be complete by 2026, Gaudí's death centenary.[2]

Partially constructed buildings

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Construction of the Ryugyong Hotel in Pyongyang was on hold between 1992 and 2008. Had it been completed on schedule, it would have been the tallest hotel in the world at the time.
Construction on Hotel Britanika in Lithuania was halted after the country gained independence in 1990

There are numerous unfinished buildings that remain partially constructed in countries around the world, some of which can be used in their incomplete state but with others remaining as a mere shell. Some projects are intentionally left with an unfinished appearance, particularly the follies of the late 16th to 18th century.

Some buildings are in a cycle of near-perpetual construction, with work lasting for decades or even centuries. Antoni Gaudí's Sagrada Família in Barcelona, Spain, has been under construction for around 140 years, having started in the 1880s. Work was delayed by the Spanish Civil War, during which the original models and parts of the building itself were destroyed. Today, even with portions of the basilica incomplete, it is still the most popular tourist destination in Barcelona with 1.5 million visitors every year. Gaudí spent 40 years of his life overseeing the project and is buried in the crypt.[3] Germany's Cologne Cathedral took even longer to complete; construction started in 1248 and finished in 1880, a total of 632 years.[4]

Buildings (and other architectural structures) never completed

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Buildings that were never completed and remain in that state include:

Unfinished buildings that were subsequently demolished:

In other cases, construction works proceeds extremely slowly, so one can also say form incomplete structures. Examples are:

Other unfinished structures

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There are also roads, railway lines and channels which remained unfinished.

Roads

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Railway infrastructure

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Arenas

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Ferris wheels

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Industrial plants

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Nuclear power plants

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Electric power transmission systems

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Towers

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See also

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References

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  1. ↑ "North Korea's 'Hotel of Doom' to finally open: top 5 incomplete buildings", telegraph.ko.uk, 10 October 2011 (retrieved 2 October 2019)
  2. ↑ "Video: See How La Sagrada Família Will Progress in 2015", metropolismag.com, 25 September 2014 (retrieved 2 October 2019)
  3. ↑ Barcelona Information. "Barcelona Sagrada Familia Archived 23 August 2006 at the Wayback Machine". Accessed 24 August 2006.
  4. ↑ UNESCO World Heritage. "Cologne Cathedral". Accessed 24 August 2006.
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