Taipei 101, a record holder.
- Taipei 101 is a blue-green coloured skyscraper that was the tallest building in the world from 2004 to 2010.
- ‘Taipei 101’ is also known as the ‘Taipei World Financial Center’ or ‘Taipei Financial Center’.
- Taipei 101 is located in the city of Taipei, in east Asia’s Taiwan, and it cost US$1.76 billion to build.
- When the building was finished, Taipei 101 was the tallest sundial in the world, it contained the largest and heaviest tuned mass damper sphere (like a pendulum to keep the building more stable), the largest countdown clock, and had the fastest elevator.
- Taipei 101 is made to withstand severe typhoons and earthquakes, using its tuned mass damper sphere, 380 foundation piles rammed 80 metres (262 feet) into the earth, and other features.
Taipei 101
Image courtesy of Luke Ma/Flickr
- Taipei 101 has 101 floors, symbolising a new century, the coming of new years, and perfection, and it contains 8 sections, referring to the symbolic Chinese number for prosperity.
- Taipei 101 is the home to apartments, observatories, offices, meeting centres, a club and restaurants, and has an attached shopping mall.
- Since its construction, Taipei 101 has been the home to New Years Eve firework displays each year, with the longest display lasting 288 seconds in 2010/2011, and in 2011/2012 it is said that 30,000 rocket fireworks were launched.
- Taipei 101’s architect was the Chinese company, C.Y. Lee & Partners, and planning started in 1997, construction began in 1999/2000, and the building opened on New Years Eve, 2004.
- Taipei 101 boasts a height of 509 metres (1,670 feet), surpassing the 1998 built Petronas Towers in Malaysia on completion, and being surpassed by Burj Khalifa in Dubai in 2010.
Bibliography: Clancy R, The Building of the Taipei 101 Skyscraper, 2009, Property Forum, http://www.propertyforum.com/emerging-property-markets/230-the-building-of-the-taipei-101-skyscraper.html
Taipei 101, 2014, Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taipei_101
