The developers of the Yongsan Landmark Tower have hastily altered the plans to make it Korea’s tallest building. The skyscraper in the downtown Seoul business district was originally intended to be 100 stories and 500 m high, but the developers have decided to add 11 more stories and 120 m to make it the tallest building in Korea. Already it is expected to be the most expensive building in the world per square meter once complete, and now it will be the world’s second tallest after the 828-m Burj Khalifa in Dubai. Italian star architect Renzo Piano (74), who built the New York Times Tower in the U.S., is in charge of the new design. Construction will be handled by Samsung Corporation, which built the Burj Khalifa and Taipei 101. If Piano completes the design by the end of this year, construction will start in 2013.
The developers also decided to change the name from Landmark Tower to Triple One standing for 111 — the ostensible number of floors. Yongsan Triple One was originally intended to be 150 stories high (665 m) when the blueprint was finished back in 2007. But the global financial crisis the following year put the project on the back burner for the next four years and prompted the developers to lower the height to fewer than 100 floors. Most of the building will be office space. The floors that are being added will accommodate a roof-top garden, observatory and restaurant.