The design of Gyeongju Tower is architecturally known as 'negative space,' paying homage to the long-lost Nine-story Wooden Pagoda of Hwangnyongsa Temple—a structure of paramount importance in Korea's Buddhist history. Although the original pagoda was destroyed during the Mongol invasions of 1238 AD, the Buddhist philosophy it represented had already taken root and flourished across the Korean Peninsula. This legacy is now symbolically preserved in the silhouette we see in this modern structure.