Trade Tower

The Trade Tower is a skyscraper in the Samseong-dong area of Gangnam, Seoul. It has 55 floors (some Korean sources count 54) and reaches 228 metres at the top floor, with an antenna that brings the full height to about 259 metres. It was built in 1988. It is part of the World Trade Center Seoul and the COEX complex.

Its design looks like two matching towers that are mirror images of each other, with stair-like steps. It is famous in pop culture too, because it can be seen in the background of the "Gangnam Style" music video. When it was finished it was the second-tallest building in South Korea and the fourth-tallest in Asia.

History

Construction began in 1984 and finished in May 1988, and the building first went by the name Trade Hall (Muyeokhoegwan). It opened that September. It had an observation deck, which was removed in the 1990s. Neon lights were added in 1995 to celebrate Korea reaching 100 billion dollars in trade.

A big expansion finished in 2000, and a refresh came in April 2014 after 25 years.

Lights and lifts

In April 2015 the colour lights were replaced with LEDs. Each evening they cycle through blue, indigo, violet, pink, red, orange, yellow and green until morning.

The tower has 24 lifts, split into low, middle and high zones, plus two scenic lifts to the 52nd floor and two for emergencies. The fast ones run at 360 metres per minute. The original lifts, installed in 1988, were all replaced by Thyssenkrupp between 2015 and 2018.

Why it stands out

The stepped shape, like a giant staircase, is easy to spot from far away and makes the tower a top landmark of Gangnam. A restaurant called Top Cloud 52 is on the 52nd floor.

As the Seoul World Trade Center, it is the only building in Korea that serves as a 'WTC'.

On the globe

The model shows the stepped, saw-toothed corners of the two interlocking towers.