Lotte World Tower Opens in Seoul at 555 Metres

Lotte World Tower opened to the public on 3 April 2017 in the Jamsil district of Seoul, south of the Han River. It is 555 metres high and has 123 storeys. It was the fifth-tallest building in the world when it was completed, and it is by a wide margin the tallest in Korea.

The tower

The project was the long-held ambition of Shin Kyuk-ho, the founder of the Lotte group, who bought the site in the 1980s. Approval took decades, partly because of a military airfield nearby. Construction began in 2010 and finished at the end of 2016.

The architects were Kohn Pedersen Fox of New York. The tower is a slender, tapering form with a seam that runs up two sides and opens at the top. The designers have said that the curve was taken from Korean ceramics and from the calligraphy brush, and the pale glass is patterned with fine metal lines. The structure is designed to withstand a severe earthquake, and 720 probes sunk 200 metres into the ground supply geothermal energy.

What is in it

The base connects to Lotte World Mall, with an aquarium and a concert hall, and to the older Lotte World amusement park across the road. Above are offices and apartments.

The hotel Signiel Seoul occupies floors 76 to 101. It was the first property of Lotte’s luxury brand; our report on its opening has the details.

The top seven floors, from 117 to 123, are the observatory, Seoul Sky. Lifts with screens on their walls and ceilings rise from the basement in about a minute. On the 118th floor is the Sky Deck, a platform with a floor of glass, 478 metres above the street. There are open terraces on the 120th floor, and a lounge at the top. For an additional fee, visitors in harnesses can walk across a bridge between the two tips of the tower, in the open air.

For travellers

The tower stands directly above Jamsil station, on lines 2 and 8, about forty minutes from the old centre north of the river. On a clear day the view reaches the mountains that ring the city and, to the west, the sea. Winter and autumn give the best visibility. Seoul often has haze in spring.

At the foot of the tower is Seokchon Lake, which is circled by cherry trees and is one of the most popular places in the city to see the blossom in early April. The observatory is busiest then and at sunset. Tickets bought online for a fixed time avoid the queue.

For a view of a different kind, Seoullo 7017, the garden on a former flyover, opened in the centre of the city a few weeks after the tower.