The Lotte World Tower () is a 123-story

Megatall skyscraper A skyscraper is a tall continuously habitable building having multiple floors. Modern sources currently define skyscrapers as being at least or in height, though there is no universally accepted definition. Skyscrapers are very tall Tower bl ...

located in

Sincheon-dong, Songpa, Seoul Sincheon-dong or Sincheon is a neighbourhood (''dong'') in Songpa-gu, Seoul served by Jamsillaru Station on Seoul Subway Line 2. The name means "new stream" and is a name for several other places in South and North Korea. Education Schools lo ...

, South Korea. It opened to the public on April 3, 2017, and is currently the tallest building in South Korea and the sixth tallest in the world.

History

After 13 years of planning and site preparation, the tower gained final approval to start construction by the government in November 2010 and the first groundbreaking activities of piling and frame assembly were observed at the construction site in March. On New Year Eve of 2016, the LED-pixels of the facade displayed the number "2016". On April 3, 2017, Lotte shot off fireworks to celebrate the tower's official opening. On January 1, 2018, Lotte shot off fireworks with a LED laser show for seven minutes to celebrate New Year's Day and the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics.

Design

Height

On March 17, 2016, before the final phase of external construction, the

Diagrid A diagrid (a portmanteau of diagonal grid) is a framework of diagonally intersecting metal, concrete, or wooden beams that is used in the construction of buildings and roofs. It requires less structural steel than a conventional steel f ...

lantern-shaped roof structure was completed. The roof structure was constructed with steel counterparts that are each and weigh 20 tons. The counterparts were made up of bent metal panels that are thick. The roof structure itself is high and covers floors 107–123. Approximately 3,000 tons of steel parts, a high-precision 64t tower crane and GPS alignment systems, as well as highly skilled welding technicians, were used in the construction of the roof. The roof structure is engineered to withstand its weight without reinforcing pillars, endure earthquakes up to a magnitude of 9 under the

Richter magnitude scale The Richter scale —also called the Richter magnitude scale, Richter's magnitude scale, and the Gutenberg–Richter scale—is a measure of the strength of earthquakes, developed by Charles Francis Richter and presented in his landmark 1935 p ...

, and winds up to . It is also the fifth largest building in the world

Landmark

Lotte World Tower is a landmark of Seoul and the first 100-story building in Korea. When it was completed, it was the fourth-highest tower in the world and the highest in the

OECD The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD; french: Organisation de coopération et de développement économiques, ''OCDE'') is an intergovernmental organisation with 38 member countries, founded in 1961 to stimulate ...

countries. The conceptual design calls for a slender cone with convex, gently curved sides. An exterior of pale-coloured

glass Glass is a non- crystalline, often transparent, amorphous solid that has widespread practical, technological, and decorative use in, for example, window panes, tableware, and optics. Glass is most often formed by rapid cooling (quenchin ...

draws inspiration from Korean ceramics and features accents of metal

filigree Filigree (also less commonly spelled ''filagree'', and formerly written ''filigrann'' or ''filigrene'') is a form of intricate metalwork used in jewellery and other small forms of metalwork. In jewellery, it is usually of gold and silver ...

Floor plans

Main facilities

Seoul Sky is located on the 117th – 123rd floors. The 117th floor is the entrance floor and the view floor; the 118th floor has the Sky Friendly Cafe and Sky Terrace. The Photozone is located on the 119th floor, Seoul Sky Cafe on the 122nd floor, and the 123 lounge, a premium lounge bar, on the 123rd floor. There are four media stands on the 117th and 118th floors. The view floor has prominent views of the city, as well as a glass floor and a telescope. The skylight of Seoul Sky was the highest glass floor observatory as of the tower's completion. Lotte Tower and One World Trade Center have concluded an operation and technical service agreement.

Incidents and accidents

Safety issues

In 2013 and 2014, three construction workers died during the construction of the tower, and an executive director of Lotte's construction arm was given a suspended sentence of eight months in prison in 2016 for his role in neglecting safety measures at the site. In December 2014, the Seoul city government ordered the mall and cinema complex at the base of the tower, which opened before completion of the tower, to be closed for five months after water was found leaking from an internal aquarium. Independent engineers who assessed the building found that these issues bore little relation to the overall structural integrity of the building and the mall and cinema complex reopened in 2015.

Urban exploration

In 2016, two Russian and

Ukrainian Ukrainian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Ukraine * Something relating to Ukrainians, an East Slavic people from Eastern Europe * Something relating to demographics of Ukraine in terms of demography and population of Ukraine * So ...

urban explorer Urban exploration (often shortened as UE, urbex and sometimes known as roof and tunnel hacking) is the exploration of manmade structures, usually abandoned ruins or hidden components of the manmade environment. Photography and historical inter ...

s, Vadim Makhorov and Vitaly Raskalov from

Ontheroofs Ontheroofs is an urban exploration and rooftopping photography project conceived by Vitaliy Raskalov () and Vadim Makhorov (), from Ukraine and from Russia respectively. Their main focus of photography is the exploration of high-rise architectural ...

, illegally climbed the under-construction Lotte World Tower through stairs and Vitaly Raskalov then free-climbed up the crane on the tower's top. The video was viewed over 3 million times as of September 2016 and received worldwide media attention. Following the climb, Lotte World Tower released posters with the photos of Vitaly Raskalov and Vadim Makhorov and banned them from the building.

Gallery

File:Site of Lotte World 2.jpg, left, October 2007 File:Lotte World Prem Twr construction.jpg, left, October 2011 File:Lotte World Tower, Seoul, Korea, under construction 2013-12-04.JPG, December 2013 File:Lotte World Tower (22074455581).jpg, left, October 2015 File:Lotte World Groupe F Seoul.jpg, April 2017

References

External links

Lotte World Tower Official Website
{{Lotte Office buildings completed in 2016 Lotte Corporation Kohn Pedersen Fox buildings Buildings and structures in Songpa District Skyscraper office buildings in Seoul Residential skyscrapers in South Korea Skyscraper hotels in South Korea Tourist attractions in Seoul 2016 establishments in South Korea