63 Building (Hanhwa 63 City)

The 63 Building (Hangul: 63 빌딩 or 육삼 빌딩), officially the Hanhwa 63 City, is a skyscraper on Yeouido island, overlooking the Han River in Seoul,South Korea. It was designed by the American architectural firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM). At 249 meters (817 ft) high, it was the tallest building outside North America when it opened in July 1985, and remains the tallest gold-cladded structure in the world. It stood as South Korea's tallest building until the Hyperion Tower surpassed it in 2003, but remained the country's tallest commercial building until the Northeast Asia Trade Tower was topped-out in 2009.

The 63 Building was built as a landmark for the 1988 Summer Olympics. 63 refers to the building's 63 official stories, of which 60 are above ground level. 61~63 floors are restricted area. The skyscraper is the headquarters of Korea Life Insurance, Industrial Bank of Korea Securities, and other major financial companies.

The 60th floor houses the world's tallest art gallery and an observation deck known as the 63 Golden Tower, that allows visitors to see as far asIncheon on clear days. The 59th floor features international restaurants called Walking in the Cloud, while the 58th floor houses family restaurants called Touch the Sky. Observation elevators equipped with windows enable their passengers to view the city as they ride up to (or down from) the observation deck. In the evening some elevators are available exclusively for couples. Known as Love Elevators, these give guests a one minute exclusive ride. The lower floors house an indoor shopping mall with approximately 90 stores, an IMAX Theater, and a large aquarium. A convention center and banquet hall are also housed within the building.

The 63 Building was featured in the computer games SimCity 3000 and SimCity 4, and featured on the cover of SimCity 3000 Unlimited.

The 63 Building's construction broke ground in February 1980, at the height of South Korea's economic boom. It was built at a cost of 180,000,000,000won and completed construction on May 1985. In 2000, Hanwha Group renamed the building 63 City and it became part of the group in 2002.