Lotte World Tower

Located in Songpa-gu, Seoul, Lotte World Tower by Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates rises 555 meters above the city, making it the tallest building in South Korea. The 123-story tower is conceived as a mixed-use vertical city, combining retail, office space, officetel residences, a luxury hotel, and public observation and entertainment facilities at its uppermost levels.

KPF describes elegance of form as a central ambition of the project. Rather than relying solely on height, the tower establishes its presence through a slender, tapered silhouette that contrasts with Seoul’s rocky, mountainous topography. Its continuous curvature gives the building a calm, refined profile, while a vertical seam running from base to crown subtly orients the tower toward the historic center of the city.

The design also draws from Korean vernacular and artistic traditions. KPF cites ceramics, porcelain, and calligraphy as key references, translating these cultural forms into the tower’s smooth taper, pale glass skin, and delicate metal filigree. In this way, Lotte World Tower combines the technological ambition of the contemporary supertall with an architectural language rooted in Korean craft, material culture, and landscape.

The result is both a skyline marker and a symbolic monument: a high-rise that projects Seoul’s global identity while maintaining a dialogue with local history, artistry, and topography.