World's Tallest Building

Taipei 101
Taipei 101 is a 101-floor landmark skyscraper located in Taipei, Taiwan. Designed by C.Y. Lee & Partners and constructed by KTRT Joint Venture, it is currently the tallest building in the world by three of the four standards designated by the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat. Its original name was Taipei Financial Centre, based on its official Chinese name: the Taipei International Financial Center. The building is the 2004 recipient of the Emporis Skyscraper Award. Taipei 101 was named "Taipei 101" because the building is in Taipei and contains 101 floors.

External Elevation
Taipei 101 has 101 stories above ground (hence the name) and five underground.

The building holds the records for:

* Ground to structural top: 509 m (1,671 ft), a record formerly held by the Petronas Twin Towers at 452 m (1,483 ft)
* Ground to roof: 449 m (1,474 ft). Formerly held by the Sears Tower 442 m (1,451 ft)
* Ground to highest occupied floor: 439 m (1,441 ft). Formerly held by the Sears Tower
* Fastest Ascending Elevator speed: 16.83 m/s (37.5 miles/hour or 60.4 km/h)
* Largest Count-Down Clock on New Year's Eve.

It does not hold the record for the longest distance from ground to pinnacle, which is still held by the Sears Tower 527 m (1,729 ft).

Taipei 101's roof was completed on July 1, 2003. In a ceremony presided over by Mayor Ma Ying-jeou who fastened a golden bolt to signify the official topping-out, the pinnacle was fitted on October 17, 2003, allowing it to surpass the Petronas Towers by 57 meters (188 feet). Taipei 101 is the first and currently only building in the world to break the half-kilometer mark in height. The Burj Dubai tower in Dubai is expected to take over as the the world's tallest building sometime in 2007.

Various sources, including the building's owners, list the height as 508.0 m (1,667 ft). This lower figure is measured from the top of a 1.2 meter platform at the base. However, according to CTBUH standards, the height of this platform should be included in the building height because it is part of the man-made structure and is above the level of the surrounding pavement.

Taipei 101 displaced the 51 story, 244 meter Shin-Kong Life Tower as the tallest building in Taipei, and the 85 story, 378 meter Tuntex Sky Tower in Kaohsiung as the tallest building in Taiwan.

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 16.83 meters per second (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. The top speeds are 34 percent faster than the previous world's fastest elevators in Yokohama Landmark Tower. Each elevator is designed with an aerodynamic body, pressurization and emergency braking systems, and the world's first triple-stage anti-overshooting system. The cost for each elevator is over $US 2 million. Visitors can also walk up the staircase to an outdoor observatory located at the 91st floor. A 660-metric-ton (730 tons) tuned mass damper is held at the 87th floor, stabilizing the tower against earthquakes, typhoons, and wind. 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. Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian, Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou and Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng cut the ribbon. This was the first world's tallest building completed in the 21st century. The next will most likely be Burj Dubai in the United Arab Emirates.

The tower includes a six-floor retail mall with shops, restaurants, and other attractions, such as night clubs. 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.

Observation Decks
The indoor observation deck is located on the 89th floor, while the outdoor observation deck is located on the 91st floor.

The general admission entrance to the observation decks is located on the 5th floor, where the access to the observation deck elevators is also located. There are also souvenir shops and free coin lockers (NT$10, approximately US$0.30, deposit is required). The price for one general admission is NT$350 (approximately US$10); the concession ticket is NT$320. Group reservation (for 20 people or more) can be made 5 days prior; group discount admission is NT$300 each. A separate ticket, priced at NT$100 each, is needed for visiting the world's highest outdoor observation deck at 91st floor; the tickets are available at the west side on the 5th floor after the purchase of the 89th floor admission (mandatory). Visitors can choose to have their hands stamped for return visits in the same day. The observation decks operate daily from 10:00 to 22:00. The ticket booths close at 21:15. Admission of the 89th floor is free for children under 100 cm (130 cm for 91st floor). Be careful if you should ever visit, the winds can blow very strongly. Management sometimes closes the observation deck in times of stormy weather.

Pre-recorded tour guide systems are available over the counter on the 89th floor; every visitor needs to present the guide voucher (comes with the ticket) and NT$1000 (or a valid passport) for deposit. The total length of the tour guide is approximately 40 minutes; currently, there are seven languages available, namely: Taiwanese, English, Japanese, German, Korean, Chinese (Mandarin), and Cantonese. The poles on the deck are marked with different numbers, and the visitors will need to enter the number and press the green button on the machine in order to listen to the scene information. The guide system must be returned before the visitor can leave the 89th floor (to either the ground or the 91st floor).

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 representative 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 Han culture and the language. There are also 4 circles on each side of the building near the base, to represent coins. Most aspects of the design, layout and planning were reviewed and approved by a Feng Shui master.

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 earthquake fault near Taiwan which was inactive. On March 31, 2002, a 6.8-magnitude earthquake caused a construction crane to fall from the 56th floor of the building, which was at the time the highest floor, killing five people and starting some small fires. The building's designers noted that the building itself reacted as expected and construction resumed later.

It is suspected that the Taipei 101 is so large that at 700,000 tonnes, its sheer weight may have reopened an ancient earthquake fault that may cause future earthquakes.

To survive high winds, skyscrapers need sway; to survive earthquakes, they need stiffness. Faced with that conundrum, Thornton-Tomasetti Engineers and Evergreen Consulting Engineering devised a package of innovations that serve the $1.7-billion building’s versatile needs. They designed a 662 metric tonne steel pendulum, called a tuned mass damper, suspended from the 92nd to the 88th floor. The movements of the damper offset strong gusts and shakes. Meanwhile, the building’s frame makes it flexible enough to absorb seismic energy. Two dozen giant vertical columns provide support; a steel web wraps around the exterior, adding ductility; and every eight floors, outrigger trusses connect the columns in the building’s core to those on the exterior, further distributing the structural load. The sphere of the tuned mass damper consists of 41 layered steel plates, each with a height of 12.5cm being welded together to form a 5.5m diameter sphere, making it the largest damper sphere in the World.

There are another two more tuned mass dampers installed that sit at the very tip of the spire. Each weighing 4.5 tons; this is to prevent cumulative damage to the structure and to the spire due to stong wind loads, a very common issue for spire structures.

Taipei 101 in popular culture
Taipei 101 features in the denouement of Eoin Colfer's novel Artemis Fowl and the Lost Colony. Several features of the building (some true and others of the author's imagining) are used as plot devices:

* A small plaque apparently fixed over the main door which urges visitors to come and go as they pleased. This gives two fairy folk crucial "permission" to enter the building.
* Artemis Fowl II, the protagonist, draws attention to the Toshiba elevators moving at eighteen metres per second and taking just over half a minute to reach the 89th floor.
* The huge mass damper, visible from the bar near the observation area, and apparently covered with 15cm of silver etched with scenes from the legend of Nian. This mass of silver disrupts the journey home of the demon No1 exactly as Artemis Fowl predicts.
* The Kimisichiog Gallery, apparently on the 40th floor of Taipei 101, is where the last remaining warlock is found.