Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture, designer of several of the tallest buildings in the world, has revealed the final design of their Dancing Dragons Towers in Seoul.  The towers feature green design elements, including “breathing” scaled skin, which imitates reptilian methods of discarding excess heat.

The two towers will be 450 meters and 390 meters (1476 feet and 1280 feet) tall, with large v-shaped massing at the top and bottom, which were inspired by Korean temples, according to the AS + GG press release.

"There's a sympathetic and complementary relationship between the two masses at the level of the cuts, almost as though they were dancing," Adrian Smith said in the statement. "It's always important for our designs to reflect and interpret the cultures they serve, and the Dancing Dragons complex certainly does that, although in an abstract and highly technological manner. We try to design in a way that is at once beautiful and focused on performance, and I believe this is an outstanding example."

Dancing Dragons' scale-like skin is also a “performative element," according to the press release. "Gaps between its overlapping panels feature operable 600-mm vents through which air can circulate, making the skin 'breathable' like that of certain animals."

The architects also included photovoltaic cells on the roof, daylight-linked lighting controls, and heat recovery via electric centrifugal chillers.

Each tower will be built on a quarter of "crucible columns," supporting mini towers hung on a belt truss system. Werner Sobek is the structural engineer.

For a list of South Korea's Tallest Buildings, click here.  An interview with Adrian Smith, CTBUH's 2011 Lynn S. Beedle Award Winner, can be found here.
Yongsan, the name of the overall development, means “Dragon Hill” in Korean. Last week BIG revealed plans to build interlocking towers in the master-planned development.