Korean stealth-scraper plans will turn 450 metre tower INVISIBLE

The South Korean government has given the go-ahead for the development of a 450 metre tall skyscraper with a difference – at certain points in the day it’ll be able to turn itself invisible. City Tower, to give the erection its official title, will be the landmark centrepiece of Incheon Free Economic Zone Authority (IFEZ) near …

[jake]

::Crnl Potter::

Horse hockey.

[Sorry that handle is already taken.]

Re: ::Crnl Potter::

That should be "Col". Also there's no r in Colonel.

I prefer mule muffins anyway.

[jake]

@Sthiat (was: Re: ::Crnl Potter::)

The point ::wooshed:: over your head.

"I prefer mule muffins anyway."

Really? Are they tasty?

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: @Sthiat (was: ::Crnl Potter::)

Muffin mules is illegal, isn't it?

[archengel46]

I might have to....

call you an Merkin if you think that South Korea, or Incheon is in South East Asia....

[Khaptain]

Re: I might have to....

They did at least manage to get the Asia bit right....That's already a big step for a Merican. For the average Merican here are only two continents

America and Not America...

[No, I will not fix your computer]

Re: I might have to....

>>They did at least manage to get the Asia bit right....That's already a big step for a Merican. For the average Merican here are only two continents

>>America and Not America...

We even have our own flag, it's like the American one, it's just on fire.

[Yag]

Re: I might have to....

A former friend of mine used to tell me that Korea was in south east asia. and thought I was confusing Korea with the Kamtchaka peninsula when I told her it was closer to the northern parts of the Japan (yeah, I was a bit wrong, I know)

She was from Korean origin, but adopted and lived in Europe all her life.

You don't have to be from the USA to be confused about geography.

[Pascal Monett]

Re: You don't have to be from the USA to be confused about geography.

No, but it sure helps

[Esskay]

The reason invisibility only lasts for 30 mins

Once a few dozen birds have smeared themselves into the side of the building, the illusion becomes somewhat less convincing

[LarsG]

Re: The reason invisibility only lasts for 30 mins

No no, the Koreans have invented a product call 'bird free', a gel that appears to them as a ball of fire so they avoid roosting. It's now being used by many councils in the UK as an alternative to bird spikes.

Unfortunately, to us the product looks like yellow custard.....

I assume that when covered in this it will blend in with the yellow of the sunset.

[I ain't Spartacus]

Re: The reason invisibility only lasts for 30 mins

LarsG,

But I like custard. Although I'm not so sure about pigeons and custard...

[BlueGreen]

Re: The reason invisibility only lasts for 30 mins

You know what they flavour custard with? Beaver.

Not so tasty now.

[Martin Budden]

Re: The reason invisibility only lasts for 30 mins

Heston was on telly last night making the world's biggest ice cream cone. My significant other arrived home half-way through the show and asked me what flavour it was. I said I think it's just plain old beaver anal mucus. The look she gave me was priceless.

[DocJD]

Not a problem

I doubt anyone in the area will be on visual flight rules. Airline flights will be on instruments, even in clear skies. Official approach patterns guarantee that, even in fog, you aren't going to hit anything if you stay on the path, so it doesn't matter if the building is invisible or not.

[David Pollard]

Re: Not a problem

But in any event as seen from above, looking down from an aircraft, it will appear to be a building lit up and decorated to look like the sky against a backdrop of ground.

[Richard 12]

What will it do the rest of the time?

The invisibility trick is the same as that thing Richard Hammond's team did with a van.

It needs a fairly high resolution display up the entire side of the building, perhaps around one pixel per metre. The technology is simple, just expensive - we've done higher pixel counts before (along a bridge)

The "Flame towers" in Azerbaijan are basically the same thing in fact, just different media source.

At night one could do rather a lot with that - here's hoping we get the job, could be fun!

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: What will it do the rest of the time?

What will it do the rest of the time?

Hmm. Phallic object, displays video. Hmm.

I give that a week, tops, before it's hacked :)

[Tom 260]

Re: What will it do the rest of the time?

Presumably the building would be too tall for a projection system to be practical, as seen on the Arc de Triomphe (Tour de France winners presentations), Buckingham Palace (Jubilee concert) and others?

[VinceH]

Re: What will it do the rest of the time?

"The invisibility trick is the same as that thing Richard Hammond's team did with a van."

Also similar to the 'adaptive camouflage' for the Aston Martin Vantage in Die Another Day - which, at the time, greatly annoyed me. Mainly out of spite.

Why? I wrote a science fiction story while at school, back in the early 1980s, in which an alien spacecraft was made largely invisible using a very similar technique - but after writing it, I decided the idea wouldn't work unless the craft was stationery and/or what was behind it didn't change. So I rewrote the whole thing to get rid of the silly idea.

Then all those years later, pretty much the same idea was used for a sodding car in a Bond film! Grrr.

And worse still, it turns out people are actually working on the very technique in real life!

Bah!

[ravenviz]

Re: What will it do the rest of the time?

Here, have this BAFTA.

[Ralph B]

Power Panels

These LED panels will have to match the power of the setting Sun behind it, to avoid the building appearing as a silhouette. Easy enough when the Sun has actually set, perhaps, but 30 minutes before it ... ? What output will these panels need?

[Cliff]

Re: Power Panels

LED displays go hella bright these days compared with the olden days. I suspect sunset is about the right time where they can compete effecively

[Old Handle]

Re: Power Panels

They didn't say anything about showing the sun behind it. In fact in the video it appears to be just after sunset, indicating that may not even be able to replicate the brightness of the daytime sky.

[stucs201]

The Norks will go one better.

Expect them to have a taller permanently invisible from all angles building within a month. We'll know they've done it because we won't be able to see it.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: The Norks will go one better.

They already have, it houses their ministry of health and welfare

[Matt_payne666]

build an invisible skyscraper, next to the airport... what could possibly go wrong..........

[Marvin the Martian]

RTFA

only 'invisible' from one side at a rather shallow angle. With the flightpath ('downwind leg') on the other side there is no issue.

[Anonymous Coward]

Can I just point out that aircraft fly between skyscrapers on their approach to Hong Kong airport (residents actually look down on the planes as they pass). Not many accidents that I recall in that part of the world.

[Tom 260]

The Kai Tak airport with the famous approach over the city closed in 1998, the new Hong Kong International Airport is 30km away from the old one and on an island. Though to be fair, the accidents that did happen (at least in the instrument flying age) were mainly due to extreme weather conditions or mechanical failures.

[Anonymous Custard]

Whicker

Brings to mind the story/quote from the late Alan Whicker about when he flew into the old airport. He confessed to the Captain that for the last few miles of approach and landing he always closed his eyes. To which the Captain replied "as a matter of fact old chap, so do I..."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AEFWjoeOhKg

[Joe_H]

The current Hong Kong international Airport is Chek Lap Kok Airport. Kai Tak Airport - which had the interesting approach path - closed in 1998.

[Parax]

at certain points in the day it’ll be able to turn itself invisible.

Yes, I find that most objects become un-visible in the dark.

[JDX]

Forget invisibility

think of the light shows this makes possible

[stu 4]

biggest ever TV surely ?

It is crying out for someone to hack it and :

1. display the largest even cock on the side

2. play porn on the side of it

p.s. I am bronze now!! yeh!!!

[Crisp]

Re: biggest ever TV surely ?

If you got bronzed just for that post, then I support our moderating overlords wisdom wholeheartedly.

[Horridbloke]

Too ambitious

The technology needs to be demonstrated on a shed first.

[TRT]

Re: Too ambitious

Don't be stupid. No building that small has a cloaking device.

[Crisp]

Re: Too ambitious

You'd need something like a chameleon circuit for that.

[adnim]

What I would like to know

is what a 450 metre tower has to sneak up on.

[Triggerfish]

Re: What I would like to know

Maybe its to hide from Godzilla

[Solly]

Prior Art

Didn't Guy Fawkes attempt this in 1605?

[Dodgy Geezer]

I can see it being useful in various legal situations...

"Your honour - we tried to serve the default papers on the bank, but for some reason we couldn't find their offices...."

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: I can see it being useful in various legal situations...

Quite handy for avoiding 9/11 style terrorist attacks as well.

[TopOnePercent]

Re: I can see it being useful in various legal situations...

You can do that by sticking a mega-mosque on the top few floors.

[Cuddles]

That's what they want you to think

"A builder and planning company have apparently yet to be found and the 300 billion won (£171.6m) project will take at least two years to get off the ground."

For all we know, it's already been built.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: That's what they want you to think

Just dont let the UK bid, the cost will octruple within the 2 years and you'll get an influx of Polich labourers

[Kubla Cant]

Lubberly

'Tis just 8 sea miles from Incheon, spike me if it ain't

Avast yon lubberly talk o' "sea miles". 'Tis two point six recurrin' leagues.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Lubberly

Reckon it be a knotty problem.

[Ugotta B. Kiddingme]

"IFEZes are cool"

[straightens bowtie]

[Martin Budden]

Invisibility or not, the shape looks great anyway.

[Potemkine]

No safety issue

With NK just 30km away... No kidding.

[~mico]

Airplanes and invisible tall buildings...

What could go wrong?

I'll pick my jump suit now