5. Lotte World Tower, South Korea
The Lotte World Tower during its construction phase (Photo: Teddy Cross via Flickr / CC By 2.0)
Looming above Seoul in South Korea, this is another recent addition to the roster of the world’s mega tall buildings, its construction only being fully completed last year – this despite its initial conception being way back in 2003: a slow turnaround time even for such a vast undertaking.
Its pale glass exterior is meant to have drawn inspiration from Korean ceramics, though there is nothing fragile about this building. Being situated in an area of much tectonic activity, the Lotte World Tower has been designed to be able to withstand earthquakes of up to 9 on the Richter scale: a mind boggling achievement from a building that reaches over 554 metres off the ground.
Like Ping An it was subject to a break in by the Ontheroofs team, an event which inspired no small degree of public outrage, given the very real possibility of the potential of a North Korean attack on the structure.