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Taipei 101

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Taipei 101 (Traditional Chinese: 臺北101 or 台北101; Simplified Chinese: 台北101; Pinyin: Táiběi Yīlíngyī; Wade-Giles: T'ai-pei I-ling I) is a 101-floor skyscraper located in Taipei, Taiwan. Its original name was Taipei Financial Center, based on its official Chinese name: the Taipei International Financial Center (Chinese: 臺北國際金融中心; Pinyin: Táiběi Guójì Jīnróng Zhōngxīn). Designed by C.Y. Lee & Partners, it is the tallest building in the world by three of the four standards designated by the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat.

External elevation

Taipei 101 has 101 stories above ground (hence the name) and five under ground.

The building holds the records for:

  • Ground to structural top: 509 m (1670 ft), a record formerly held by the Petronas Twin Towers at 452 m (1483 ft)
  • Ground to roof: 448 m (1470 ft). Formerly held by the Sears Tower 442 m (1454ft)
  • Ground to highest occupied floor: 438 m (1437 ft). Formerly held by the Sears Tower
  • Elevator speed: 1010 meters/min (37.5 miles/hour)

It does not hold the record for

Note: Toronto's CN Tower (553 m, 1814 ft) is excluded from these records. [1]

Taipei 101's roof was completed on July 1, 2003. In a ceremony presided over by Mayor Ma Ying-jeou, the pinnacle was fitted on October 17 2003, allowing it to surpass the Petronas Towers by 50 meters (165 feet). [2] Its records may be surpassed by several buildings planned for completion before 2009, including Union Square Phase 7 in Hong Kong, Fordham Spire in Chicago, Shanghai World Financial Center, Freedom Tower in New York City, and Burj Dubai in the U.A.E..

Taipei 101 interior

In many aspects, the new building is the most technologically advanced skyscraper constructed to date. The building features fiber-optic and satellite Internet connections allowing speeds up to 1 gigabit per second. Toshiba has supplied the world's two fastest doubledecker elevators which run at a top speed of 1,010 meters per minute (63 km/h or 37.5 mph) and are able to take visitors from the main floor to the observatory on the 89th floor in under 39 seconds. A 660 metric tons (730 tons) tuned mass damper is held at the 88th floor, stabilizing the tower against earthquakes, typhoons, and wind[3]. The damper can reduce up to 40% of the tower's movements.

The entire tower was opened on December 31, 2004, amidst an extravagant New Year's celebration, complete with live performances and fireworks. President Chen Shui-bian, Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou and Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng cut the ribbon.

Total buildable area will be 450,000 m² with:

  • 214,000 m² of office space
  • 77,500 m² of retail space
  • 73,000 m² of parking space

The tower includes a six-floor retail mall with shops, restaurants, and other attractions. The architecture of the retail mall includes both retro gothic-style pinnacles and modern industrial structures. The interior layout of Taipei 101 was entirely designed by a feng shui master.

Exterior symbolism

The exterior of the building is fraught with symbolism of financial success. The distinctive sections that create the impression of a bamboo stalk in the minds of many people are actually representitive of gold ingots, used in ancient China as currency by royalty. There are 8 of them, each with 8 floors, with the number 8 sounding like "earn fortune" in the language. There are also 4 circles on each side of the building near the base, to represent coins.

Construction

The tower is designed to endure earthquakes above seven on the Richter scale, and once-a-century super typhoons. Prior to construction, some worried that the building would be vulnerable to the earthquakes common in Taiwan. On March 31, 2002, a 6.8 earthquake caused a construction crane to fall from the 56th floor of the building (at the time, the highest floor), killing five. The building's designers noted that the building itself reacted as expected.

Taipei 101 is so large that at 700,000 metric tons, its sheer weight is thought to have reopened an ancient earthquake fault that may cause future earthquakes.[4][5]

Notes

  1. ^ Toronto's CN Tower (553 m) is excluded from these records, because it is not a "habitable building", which is defined as a frame structure made with floors and walls throughout. The CN Tower remains the world's tallest free-standing structure on land. The KVLY-TV mast near Mayville, North Dakota, is taller still at 629 m (2,063 ft), but is supported by cables.

References

See also

 
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Taipei 101.

World's tallest


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