British Architectural Critic Names Lotte World Tower In Jamsil As One Of The ‘Buildings To Look Out For In 2016’
Lotte World Tower in Jamsil was listed as one of the "buildings to look out for in 2016" by an architectural critic and writer, Jonathan Glancey. In his article posted on BBC Dec. 24, he mentioned eight skyscrapers from all over the world.
The critic included Seoul's Lotte World Tower as one of the eight buildings to watch for.
"When complete in 2016, the slender, mixed-use Lotte World Tower, Seoul, designed by the Chicago architects Kohn Pedersen Fox, will be - at 555m (1820ft) high - the tallest building in the Korean Peninsula," Glancey said in his article.
"South Koreans may well bask in this accolade, having relegated the extraordinary 330m (1082ft)-high Ryugyong Hotel in Pyongyang, still under construction after a number of false starts 29 years on, into second place."
He went on, "As, however, North and South Korea have been squaring up to one another for the past 70 years, Pyongyang may yet produce plans for a tower taller than Seoul's. Whatever the artistic quality of such jostling behemoths, a proxy war fought with architecture is surely better than a deadly one waged with armaments."
Visit Korea reported Oct. 27 that multinational conglomerate company Lotte Group opened the completed commercial trade shops located on the lower part of Lotte World last October 14.
Aside from commercial retail buildings, an art gallery, hotel, medical center and other offices and amenities are expected to open soon.
The seven other buildings listed by Glancey include World One Tower in Mumbai, London's Canaletto Tower and Tate Modern, San Francisco's Museum of Modern Art in California, Downing College, Cambridge in United Kingdom, Museum of Local Zinc Mining in Norway and Tippet Rise Arts Centre at Fishtail in Montana.
"As the legion of high, ambitious and mighty new buildings due to open around the world in 2016 reminds us, they are - however enchanting - a very rare breed indeed," Glancey concluded.