It's like something out of a dystopian nightmare.
A 45-storey skyscraper in the center of Caracas is no five-star hotel or swanky apartment block, but a sky-high slum.
Once the very epitome of luxury, the so-called “Tower of David” skyscraper that looms over the Venezuelan capital is now home to 3,000 people, and thought to be the world’s tallest slum.
It has earned its title for being viewed as a safe haven that rescued 3,000 poverty-stricken citizens from the capital's crime-ridden slums.
But the building is not without its risks.
One young girl fell through a hole in the wall to her death a few years back, and a drunk motorcyclist rode off an edge and killed himself, Reuters reported. Police have raided the building a couple of times searching for kidnap victims, adding to its notoriety.
The building showed up as a Dantesque backdrop to an episode of TV drama Homeland, with on-the-run terrorist-suspect character Nicholas Brody held there.
Though filmed mainly in Puerto Rico, the 2013 episode includes shots of the real tower and has a scene where a gang tosses a thief off the building.