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Artist’s impressions of Triple One (left) and Boutique officetel building

Along with a 620-m landmark tower, 13 more high rises over 200 m will be constructed at an international business district in Seoul’s Yongsan. A shopping mall of 1.04 million sq. m, which is six times the size of the COEX mall in Samseong-dong, also in the capital, will be built below street level. At a presentation on Wednesday, the developers said the design of the buildings and sprawling underground mall has been finalized.

The Triple One, a 111-story office building, will rank as Korea’s tallest building and the second highest in the world after the Burj Khalifa in Dubai when it is completed at the end of 2016. Nearby this will be the Landmark Hotel (72 stories, 385 m), featuring a six-star hotel and luxurious residences, as well as office buildings such as Diagonal Tower (64 stories, 362 m), Blade Tower (56 stories, 293 m) and Harmony Tower (47 stories, 243 m).

Renzo Piano (75), who is in charge of the master plan of the Yongsan business district and the design of Triple One, described his design concept using the metaphor of a ballet troupe dancing in harmony. Ground will be broken on the W30 trillion (US$1=W1,128) development project early next year. It is scheduled to be completed by December 2016.