Last week I took a trip down to Seoul, Korea. What a wonderful country with a booming construction industry.

Every city I went to had multiple high-rise complexes in construction. I have never seen so many cranes in my life

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Korea felt like a well-oiled machine, even when it came to construction. While I don’t know how the system works when compared to America, I can tell that they work proficiently.

For example, the construction outside the place we were staying was seamless. I barely knew they worked most days until I stepped outside the house.

They were installing a new underground pipe which looked like it was for either sewage or their water drainage system. Either way, they could excavate, lay pipe, and backfill a decent amount each day.

A five-person crew team installed nearly a quarter mile of pipe 4 FT. Underground while I was in Korea. Impressive if you ask me.

But I really wanted to talk about the Lotte World Tower I saw while on my trip. I had no intentions of visiting this tower initially, but after seeing it, I wanted to go and spend a day looking around it.

I want to share what I found and hope you can appreciate the thought that went into the construction of this tower.

After all, it’s the 5th tallest tower in the world. Can you imagine the amount of planning and coordination required just to construct this building?
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First, let’s start with the features of this tower, then we will go into the challenges they faced during construction.

The Features of Lotte World Tower

Lotte World Tower is located in the Jamsil district of Seoul, Korea. It was constructed as a beacon of Korean architectural and cultural prowess.

The building's exterior is crafted from pale-colored glass panels. These draw inspiration from traditional Korean ceramics, fine metalwork, porcelain, and calligraphy.

Construction started in 2010 and was completed in 2017. Some issues found during construction likely contributed to the delay in project completion.

The construction cost was approximately $2.5 billion, but it was all worth it to Chairman Shin Kyuk-ho. His dream before he passed was to open this tower, and just three years after its completion, he died at 99 years of age.

Many goals were set for this building. They managed to build the tallest tower in Korea at 555 meters tall (1820 feet), the fifth tallest tower in the world.

We likely won’t see any other tower that beats the height of the Lotte World Tower for a while in Korea.

Another goal that they managed to accomplish was their LEED gold certification. The certification is staged for everyone to see on the basement level of the tower.
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Here are some of the things they did to achieve this certification.

1. The building uses geothermal heating and cooling systems. Meaning they use the earth to heat and cool the building.
2. The tower is located nearby the Han River. And thanks to the placement, they can use some of that river water for the heat pump system in the building. Another way they conserve energy is by eliminating the use of cooling towers.
3. Solar panels are located on the roof to generate energy during the day.
4. Rainwater is collected and used for their plumbing systems tied to things like bathrooms and irrigation.
5. Additionally, they have a wastewater treatment system. Any water collected is also reused for irrigation.
6. Use of energy-efficient lighting such as LEDs throughout the building.
7. High-performance glass helps reduce heat gain and loss for the building. They prevent heat from entering during the summer and escaping during the winter.
8. They utilize a building management system to control the different systems in the building. The system monitors the various aspects of the building, such as the AC, and only delivers enough heating or cooling to satisfy the demands.

Using these types of systems, they met their goal of LEED gold.

That's not all, I also wanted to discuss some of the engineering that went into constructing the building.

First, the building was constructed with what is considered a mega-mat foundation. Their goal was to make the tallest tower in Korea; they needed a solid base.

If you check out the link below, they detail how the base was made. There are even some pictures from during the construction of the base.

There are just layers upon layers of rebar within that slab which is necessary to reinforce something of that size.

Second was the steel frame of the tower. It was constructed using a modular system. Meaning they prefabricated the steel off-site to assemble on-site.

They used this construction method because it can help save time and money on the project.

Third, it is the towers form. They intentionally built the tower with a curved face like that for both appearance and to help reduce wind loads.

According to the Lotte website, the tower is designed to withstand a wind velocity of 83m/sec (186 MPH).

To put this into perspective, the wind velocity of Hurricane Katrina, which hit the U.S. in 2005, was recorded at 75m/sec (168 MPH).

This tower is built to last!

The Challenges During Construction

While I could go on about the features and tech of the tower, I think it’s also important to point out some of the issues they faced during construction.

No project goes without issues, especially one of this magnitude.

First, they had cracks in the concrete of the tower’s core columns in 2013. It was reported that this was due to using substandard concrete and poor welding techniques.

The contractor claims the cracks were repaired, but I would be concerned with the tower's longevity. Consistent repairs could be required as new cracks appear, and the maintenance of the building would be a massive cost to the owner.

I can’t imagine what kind of lawsuit came out of this or how they settled it.

Next, they had water seepage found in the basement of the tower. Remember how they built their tower next to a river? Well, this was likely entering the construction site unintentionally.

The claims are that the seepage occurred due to poor drainage and using porous materials during construction.

If the water continues to seep, this will only cause damage to the construction material over time. It is further affecting the longevity of the building in addition to the cracks.

Lastly, we had a fatal accident on the job site. I am unsure how it works in Korea, but any time a death happens in America, the job site shuts down, and a full-scale investigation is held.

The death occurred when some scaffolding collapsed and killed the worker. Scaffolding should be inspected daily to ensure something like this does not happen.

But this shows the contractor's attention to detail in the project. If they allowed the worker to die due to a disregard for safety, just imagine the other things they let slide.

While I mention all these safety concerns, Lotte claim to have over 400 sensors installed in the building, these sensors monitor different aspects of the building to ensure it is within safe operating limits.

It only makes sense to have so many sensors with a tower of this scale.

Conclusion

Overall, this tower is still beautiful to see in person.

It gives you an appreciation for what can be accomplished when people work together. Another reason I stick with construction is to be a part of something people can appreciate.

Best regards,

Alex