Lotte World Tower rises above Seoul’s skyline
Published on 08/21/2026 at 10:12 | Editorial responsibility: Rafael Müller, Editor-in-Chief AD HOC NEWS
Lotte World Tower rises as a 555 m (1,821 ft) supertall skyscraper in Seoul’s Songpa District, with Kohn Pedersen Fox behind its design and a completion date of 2017. Its sheer height and slender profile make it the city’s most recognisable vertical landmark.
The tower’s scale and glass skin
The building has 123 storeys above ground and a structural height listed at 554.43 m, while its pinnacle reaches 555.7 m on some references. That combination places it among the tallest buildings in the world and the tallest in South Korea.
Its facade is a cool field of glass and pale structural lines, tapering as it rises. The form is straightforward to read from street level: a single tower, not a cluster, with the massing pulled upward into a clean vertical profile.
Kohn Pedersen Fox and the Seoul skyline
Kohn Pedersen Fox is the name most closely linked with the tower, and the project sits within the wider language of late twenty-first-century supertall design. In Seoul, the tower marks the skyline with a height that is easy to identify from a distance and hard to mistake once seen up close.
The tower’s identity also comes from what it contains: offices, a hotel and an observatory within one high-rise frame. That mixed use gives the building a public face beyond its structural record, and makes it a working piece of the city rather than a pure symbol.
Songpa District and the tower’s vertical profile
The tower stands in Sincheon-dong, in Songpa District, with Olympic-ro as a key address reference. That setting places it within a busy part of south-eastern Seoul, where large-scale development and high-rise construction are part of the urban fabric.
The tower’s most striking visual feature is its uninterrupted upward thrust. The body narrows gently as it climbs, and the glass surface keeps the exterior legible as a single mass rather than a pile of separate volumes.
Visiting Lotte World Tower: what travellers from Western Europe should know
- The tower is in Songpa District, south-east of central Seoul. It is reached by the city’s metro network and road links to Olympic-ro.
- The building rises to a great height, so its upper levels are reached by lift rather than by stairs. The tower’s vertical scale is the defining feature of any visit.
- The complex combines tower functions with public-facing uses, including an observatory, hotel and office space. That mix makes the building a layered stop rather than a single-purpose skyscraper.
- The tower’s height and glass exterior are the details that define its appearance from the street. The silhouette changes subtly as the tower rises, then ends in a slender top section.
- English is not an official language in South Korea. The official language is Korean and the currency is the South Korean won.
Searching for Lotte World Tower on social platforms
These links open searches for Lotte World Tower on each platform.
Frequently asked questions about Lotte World Tower
Where is Lotte World Tower?
It stands in Sincheon-dong in Seoul’s Songpa District, with Olympic-ro as the clearest address reference. The tower forms part of the broader high-rise landscape in south-eastern Seoul.
What can be seen on a visit?
The building combines an observatory, hotel and office functions within one tower. Its height and glazed exterior are the most immediate features at street level.
What makes the tower distinctive?
The tower is distinguished by its 555 m height and its slender glass-clad profile. Kohn Pedersen Fox’s design gives it a clear place in Seoul’s skyline.
