back to article 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 …

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  1. jake Silver badge

    ::Crnl Potter::

    Horse hockey.

    1. Sorry that handle is already taken. Silver badge

      Re: ::Crnl Potter::

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

      I prefer mule muffins anyway.

      1. jake Silver badge

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

        The point ::wooshed:: over your head.

        "I prefer mule muffins anyway."

        Really? Are they tasty?

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

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

          Muffin mules is illegal, isn't it?

  2. archengel46
    FAIL

    I might have to....

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

    1. Khaptain Silver badge

      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...

      1. No, I will not fix your computer
        Joke

        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.

    2. 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.

      1. Pascal Monett Silver badge
        Trollface

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

        No, but it sure helps

  3. Esskay
    Devil

    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

    1. 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.

      1. I ain't Spartacus Gold badge
        Happy

        Re: The reason invisibility only lasts for 30 mins

        LarsG,

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

        1. BlueGreen

          Re: The reason invisibility only lasts for 30 mins

          You know what they flavour custard with? Beaver.

          Not so tasty now.

          1. Martin Budden Silver badge
            Happy

            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.

  4. 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.

    1. 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.

  5. Richard 12 Silver badge

    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!

    1. Anonymous Coward
      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 :)

    2. 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?

    3. 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!

      1. ravenviz Silver badge

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

        Here, have this BAFTA.

  6. 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?

    1. 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

    2. 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.

  7. 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.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: The Norks will go one better.

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

  8. Matt_payne666

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

    1. 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.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      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.

      1. 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.

        1. 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

      2. 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.

  9. 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.

  10. JDX Gold badge

    Forget invisibility

    think of the light shows this makes possible

  11. 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!!!

    1. Crisp
      Thumb Up

      Re: biggest ever TV surely ?

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

  12. Horridbloke

    Too ambitious

    The technology needs to be demonstrated on a shed first.

    1. TRT Silver badge

      Re: Too ambitious

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

      1. Crisp

        Re: Too ambitious

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

  13. adnim
    Joke

    What I would like to know

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

    1. Triggerfish

      Re: What I would like to know

      Maybe its to hide from Godzilla

  14. Solly
    Mushroom

    Prior Art

    Didn't Guy Fawkes attempt this in 1605?

  15. Dodgy Geezer Silver badge

    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...."

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

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

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

      1. 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.

  16. Cuddles
    Joke

    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.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      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

  17. 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.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Lubberly

      Reckon it be a knotty problem.

  18. Ugotta B. Kiddingme

    "IFEZes are cool"

    [straightens bowtie]

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