Photo taken on Jan. 11, 2010 shows the Temporary North Lawn Building, a white structure, at the UN headquarters in New York, the United States. A ribbon-cutting ceremony was held here on Monday to officially mark the opening of the temporary building designed to serve to host conferences and house UN staff's offices for a limited period pending the renovation of UN's 50-plus year-old complex expected to be finished in 2013. (Xinhua/Shen Hong) Photo Gallery>>>

    UNITED NATIONS, Jan. 11 (Xinhua) -- Holding high a pair of oversized scissors with both hands, a smiling UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon looked at the crowd as he lowered the scissors and cut the ribbon at the entrance, formally inaugurating the world body's temporary headquarters, a white box on the East River.

    After cutting the UN-blue ribbon, the secretary-general was saluted by two flanking UN security guards as he entered the lobby, the site of the ceremony.

    "As you will see, it is no-frills," he said at the ribbon-cutting ceremony. "There are no escalators. The windows are limited. We have simple concrete floors."

    Staff workers have dubbed the three-story, 140-million-U.S.-dollars building, "Ikea," a reference to the Swedish build-it-yourself furniture chain, as everything in the building, including the structure itself, looks as if it was constructed in a day.

    Inside the Temporary North Lawn Building, piping snakes along the ceiling. The "grass" outside is mesh of green wires, closely resembling the fillings of an Easter-egg basket.

    The Secretariat plans to recycle and reuse the structure when it is no longer needed in 2013, said Ban, hence, the flimsy and sterile appearance. The UN's temporary crash pad is part of a gigantic 1.9-billion-U.S. dollar project meant to make the Manhattan headquarters greener and safer.

    Staff have slowly been filtering out of the iconic UN building as the private construction company Sanska guts the blue-glassed structure. But the small group of staff members and journalists who still remain inside have voiced their concerns about the ongoing removal of asbestos, a toxic insulating material that can cause lung cancer.

UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon cuts the ribbon to mark the official inauguration of the Temporary North Lawn Building at the UN headquarters in New York, the United States, Jan. 11, 2010. The temporary building was designed to serve to host conferences and house UN staff's offices for a limited period pending the renovation of UN's 50-plus year-old complex expected to be finished in 2013. (Xinhua/Shen Hong) Photo Gallery>>>

    The UN is immune from U.S. lawsuits and health regulations and thus can keep drilling for asbestos in reporters' offices and near the makeshift cafeteria on the fourth floor.

    At the ceremony, Rosemary Di Carlo, the number three permanent representative to the UN for the United States, said that as the host country, the U.S. would work to ensure transparency and accountability throughout the renovation process -- a project that has been criticized as costly and slow.

    Ban noted that there would be disruptions in the UN's work, a fact he called "a down payment to ensuring a modern, energy-efficient 21st century secretariat building for generations to come."

    The new building houses a number of facilities, including the 192-member General Assembly and Ban's executive office. Delegates and staff members came to the ribbon-cutting ceremony to explore the unfamiliar halls and enjoy breakfast in the new Vienna Cafe.

    Both the under-secretary-general for management Angela Kane and Michael Adlerstein, the executive director of the renovation project, took to the podium to thank those involved in the move.

    Under the glaring white lamps from above, Ban said the most important part of any building is what brings it to life -- the people.

    "Delegates, staff, officials, all those who will come here to find the way to greater peace and security, development and human rights for all the peoples of the world -- this is your building," he said. "This is our work. Let us begin."

A staff member carries a guide board into the new Temporary North Lawn Building at the UN headquarters in New York, the United States, Jan. 11, 2010. A ribbon-cutting ceremony was held here on Monday to officially mark the opening of the temporary building designed to serve to host conferences and house UN staff's offices for a limited period pending the renovation of UN's 50-plus year-old complex expected to be finished in 2013. (Xinhua/Shen Hong) Photo Gallery>>>