Hasta La Ideas

Almost two years ago to the day, Rem Koolhaas‘ nearly-completed Mandarin Oriental hotel burnt down after New Year’s fireworks were shot out of a window from the adjacent and now-iconic CCTV Tower and still-smoldering remnants happened to fly through an open window. In the end, a person died and damages were in the hundreds of millions (here’s our up close look at the damage, as we wandered around snapping photos several months later). Though the tower might finally be coming back, with construction beginning last year to try and salvage the hotel, you’d think that one major building catching fire from fireworks would be enough to throw the whole nation into caution. However, this past week, during the New Year’s celebrations, the Dynasty Wanxin, a five-star hotel in the city of Shenyang, caught the receiving end of some fireworks and two of its three towers were completely gutted by fire as firefighters’ “water guns could jet water only 50 meters high, were helpless at the fire which flamed on the top of Tower A, 219 meters high.” A nearby Sheraton was also evacuated, given its close proximity to the blaze. So let that be both a caution to visitors around the time when China celebrates its new year (chose a room on a lower level) or hotel developers looking to build in the country (make sure all the windows are closed for the evening).

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