Remember that residential building in Beijing with the mountain-style penthouse built on top of it that everyone was talking about a few days ago? Well, it’s going to be demolished.

The mountain penthouse of Beijing

Zhang Biqing, the owner of many traditional Chinese medicine clinics, spent the last six years constructing an 8,000 square foot, two-storey addition to his 26th floor apartment. The addition is designed to reflect the landscape of classical Chinese paintings, and to be honest, it looks pretty cool - but that doesn’t change the fact that it was illegally built.

The New York Times is reporting that Chinese officials have ordered Zhang to either show proof that the addition was built legally or get rid of it in 15 days time.

Apparently, Zhang dodged Chinese officials and ignored neighbours’ complaints about noise and damage throughout the construction process. Some residents didn’t mind the construction noise, but the obnoxious karaoke bar was a bit much. Imagine if the penthouse owner in your building constructed an entire karaoke bar - that would not be fun.

Since Zhang has received the notice to present proof of legal construction, he has made a surprising turnaround, saying, “Now I realize it was a huge mistake,” during an interview with the state broadcaster CCTV. Zhang also said that the addition will be gone in a week.

What do you think of the design?

Okay, so Zhang illegally built a two-storey, mountain-like addition to the roof of his residence, and sure, he disrupted the lives of most of the residents in the building and was reportedly rude about it - but it looks pretty cool, right?

Other than Zhang’s rocky addition, the building is pretty plain and is surrounded by many other plain buildings. We think that if Zhang went about the addition legally and respectfully, his home could have been something of a landmark.

Would you care if this was built atop one of Toronto’s condos? It would make less sense because Toronto doesn’t have any mountains, but how about if it were to symbolize Canada’s Rocky Mountains?

All images from bjd.com.cn