[Edaily Reporter Kim Hyung-wook ] When Hyundai Motor Group acquired the Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO) site in Samseong-dong, Seoul, in 2014, the initial plan for the Global Business Center (GBC) was a single 105-story supertall tower. However, 12 years later, the current GBC concept has evolved into three 242-meter, 49-story towers. This change is the result of careful consideration regarding the question of whether a corporate symbol must necessarily be represented by the tallest building.
Lee Kwang-hwan, director of the Architectural Regulations Institute, who participated in the review of the original 105-story plan, likened the inefficiency of super-tall office buildings exceeding 500 meters to a “peach.” As a building gets taller, the number of elevators needed to transport people increases, and the central core housing various utilities also grows larger. While the building appears larger on the outside, the actual office space available to employees does not increase at the same rate.
Director Lee said, “It’s like a peach that looks big, but if the pit is too large, there isn’t much left to actually eat,” adding, “Since the KEPCO site isn’t so narrow that it absolutely requires expanding upward, this was a decision that prioritized practicality.”
Time is also a cost for companies. Jeong Gwang-ryang, CEO of CNP Dongyang, who participated in the initial structural design, explained, “Super-tall buildings require much more time to complete,” adding, “For a company that must respond sensitively to global industrial changes, committing to a single plan for more than 10 years can itself be a risk factor.”
In fact, while the 105-story GBC project was underway, the competitive landscape of the automotive industry rapidly shifted from internal combustion engines to electric vehicles, software-defined vehicles (SDVs), AI, and robotics.
The practical difficulties posed by the supertall building were not limited to construction costs and duration. In 2018, the Ministry of National Defense argued that the GBC could interfere with combat flights and military radar operations intended to defend the capital, demanding additional reviews regarding flight safety and radio wave interference. Consequently, the GBC plan was put on hold during deliberations on the Seoul Metropolitan Area Development Plan as these issues came to light.
Ultimately, Hyundai Motor and the Ministry of National Defense reached an agreement in 2020 on measures to resolve operational restrictions. To eliminate any radar blind spots that might result from the GBC, Hyundai Motor agreed to cover not only the cost of the Air Force’s new radar system but also the costs of installation, operation, and maintenance. In essence, the company had to resolve military operational issues just to claim the title of “Korea’s tallest building.”
That said, Hyundai Motor Group did not simply opt for an ordinary office building that could be built cheaply and quickly. Director Lee Kwang-hwan assessed that Chairman Chung Eui-sun might actually be a leader who places greater emphasis on architects and architectural design itself than previous generations. The fact that Hyundai Motor Group entrusted the GBC design to “Foster + Partners”—a world-renowned architectural firm that designed Apple Park and other iconic projects—is proof of this.
Foster + Partners, which has designed headquarters for companies like Apple and Google, envisions the GBC as a complex comprising three towers, an exhibition hall, a performance venue, and extensive green spaces and gardens. The firm aims to embody the global trend among leading corporations of transforming their headquarters from mere office buildings into spaces that reflect corporate identity. The Seoul Metropolitan Government also plans to develop the GBC into a global business and cultural hub, as well as a new landmark accessible to citizens.
However, there are still those who regret the scrapping of the original 105-story plan. CEO Jeong Gwang-ryang stated, “Locations in downtown Seoul that meet the conditions for super-tall buildings—such as a well-developed transportation network and business and commercial facilities—are rare, as seen in Samseong-dong,” adding, “If a super-tall building had been constructed here, Seoul’s global standing would have been different.”
This decision may also be a source of regret for Hyundai Engineering & Construction, a subsidiary in the construction sector. The original 105-story plan was set to incorporate a mega-brace structure, which is uncommon in domestic supertall buildings. Had Hyundai Engineering & Construction completed the project itself, it would have gained a 100-story-class construction track record worthy of showcasing in the global supertall construction market.
In large-scale overseas construction projects, past construction track records determine eligibility for future projects. Samsung C&T, too, formed a consortium with Kukdong Construction—which had built the Seoul Trade Center—to supplement the high-rise construction experience required during the bidding process for the Petronas Twin Towers in Malaysia in the late 1990s, and subsequently continued to accumulate experience in constructing world-class skyscrapers.
