Taipei Skyscraper
May 15th, 2008
The building stands as an icon of Taipei and Taiwan as a whole. Its postmodern style combines tradition and modernity in ways that make it Asian and international both at once. Its safety features enable it to withstand typhoons and earthquakes. A multi-level shopping mall adjoining the tower houses hundreds of fashionable stores, restaurants and clubs. Fireworks launched from Taipei 101 feature prominently in international New Year's Eve broadcasts, and the landmark appears frequently in films, television shows, print publications, anime media, games, and other elements of popular culture.
The name of the tower reflects its location in Taipei's 101 business district and its floor count. The number is pronounced in English simply as One Oh One and in Mandarin by the equivalent.
Taipei 101 belongs to the Taipei Financial Center Corporation and managed by the International division of Urban Retail Properties Corporation based in Chicago, USA. The name originally planned for the building, Taipei World Financial Center, was derived from the name of the owner.
Taipei 101 was overtaken in height on July 21, 2007 by the Burj Dubai in Dubai, UAE, upon the completion of that building's 141st floor. You can read about the Burj Dubai skyscraper below on our web-site. The title of "world's tallest building" still rests with Taipei 101, though, as international architectural standards define a "building" as a structure capable of being fully occupied. The Burj Dubai is on course to claim the title once its construction is finished.
Taipei 101 has 101 stories above ground and five underground.
Taipei 101 is the first record-setting skyscraper to be constructed in the twenty-first century. Appropriately it exhibits a number of technologically advanced features as it provides a center for business and recreation.
The original 2004 fiber-optic and satellite Internet connections enabled transfer speeds up to a gigabyte per second.
The doubledeck elevators built by Toshiba Elevator and Building Systems Corporation (TELC) set a new record in 2004 with top ascending speeds of 16.83 m (55.22 ft) per second (60.6 km/h, 37.7 mi/h). This speed is 34.7 percent faster than the previous record holders of the Yokohama Landmark Tower elevator, Yokohama, Japan, which speeds of 12.5 m (41 ft) per second (45.0 km/h, 28.0 mi/h). Taipei 101's elevators sweep visitors from the fifth floor to the 89th-floor observatory in 37 seconds. Each elevator features an aerodynamic body, full pressurization, state-of-the art emergency braking systems, and the world's first triple-stage anti-overshooting system. The cost for each elevator is over $US 2 million.
The formal opening of the tower took place on New Year's Eve 2004. President Chen Shui-bian, Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou and Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng cut the ribbon. Open-air concerts featured a variety of popular stars such as A-Mei and Sun Yan Zi. Visitors rode the elevators to the Observatory for the first time. A few hours later the first fireworks show at Taipei 101 heralded the arrival of a new year.
Empire State Building
April 20th, 2008
The Empire State Building has been named by the American Society of Civil Engineers as one of the Seven Wonders of the Modern World. The building and its street floor interior are designated landmarks of the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission, and confirmed by the New York City Board of Estimate. It was designated as a National Historic Landmark in 1986. In 2007, it was ranked number one on the List of America's Favorite Architecture according to the AIA. The building is owned and managed by W&H Properties.
The present site of the Empire State Building was first developed as the John Thomson Farm in the late 18th century. At the time, a stream ran across the site, emptying into Sunfish Pond, located a block away. The block was occupied by the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in the late 19th century, and was frequented by The Four Hundred, the social elite of New York.
The Empire State Building was designed by Gregory Johnson and his architectural firm Shreve, Lamb and Harmon, which produced the building drawings in just two weeks, using its earlier design for the Reynolds Building in Winston-Salem, North Carolina as a basis. The building was actually designed from the top down. The general contractors were Starrett Brothers and Eken, and the project was financed by John J. Raskob. The construction company was chaired by Alfred E. Smith, a former Governor of New York.
Excavation of the site began on January 22, 1930, and construction on the building itself started symbolically on March 17—St.Patrick's Day—per Al Smith's influence as Empire State, Inc. president. The project involved 3,400 workers, mostly immigrants from Europe, along with hundreds of Mohawk iron workers, mainly from the Kahnawake reserve near Montreal. According to official accounts, five workers died during the construction. Governor Smith's grandchildren cut the ribbon on May 1st, 1931.
The construction was part of an intense competition in New York for the title of the world's tallest building. Two other projects fighting for the title, 40 Wall Street and the Chrysler Building, were still under construction when work began on the Empire State Building. Both would hold the title for less than a year, as the Empire State Building had surpassed them upon its completion, just 410 days after construction commenced. The building was officially opened on May 1, 1931 in dramatic fashion, when United States President Herbert Hoover turned on the building's lights with the push of a button from Washington, D.C. Ironically, the first use of tower lights atop the Empire State Building, the following year, was for the purpose of signalling the victory of Franklin D. Roosevelt over Hoover in the presidential election of November 1932.
The building's opening coincided with the Great Depression in the United States, and as a result much of its offices were unused. In its first year of operation, the observation deck took in approximately 2 million dollars, as much money as its owners made in rent that year. The lack of renters led New Yorkers to deride the building as the "Empty State Building". The building would not become profitable until 1950. The famous 1951 sale of The Empire State Building to Roger L. Stevens and his business partners was brokered by the prominent upper Manhattan real estate firm Charles F. Noyes & Company for a record $51 million. At the time, that was the highest price ever paid for a single structure in real estate history.
The building's distinctive art deco spire was originally designed to be a mooring mast and depot for dirigibles. The 102nd floor was originally a landing platform with a dirigible gangplank. A particular elevator, traveling between the 86th and 102nd floors, was supposed to transport passengers after they checked in at the observation deck on the 86th floor. However, the idea proved to be impractical and dangerous after a few attempts with airships, due to the powerful updrafts caused by the size of the building itself. The T-shaped mooring devices remain in place. A large broadcast antenna was added to the top of the spire in 1952.
At 9:40 a.m. on Saturday July 28, 1945, a B-25 Mitchell bomber, piloted by Lieutenant Colonel William F. Smith, Jr., who was flying in a thick fog, accidentally crashed into the north side of the Empire State Building between the 79th and 80th floors, where the offices of the National Catholic Welfare Council were located. One engine shot through the side opposite the impact and another plummeted down an elevator shaft. The fire was extinguished in 40 minutes. Fourteen people were killed in the incident. Elevator operator Betty Lou Oliver survived a plunge of 75 stories inside an elevator, which still stands as the Guinness World Record for the longest survived elevator fall recorded. Despite the damage and loss of life, the building was open for business on many floors the following Monday.
The Empire State Building remained the tallest skyscraper in the world for 41 years, and stood as the world's tallest man-made structure for 23 years. It was surpassed by the North Tower of the World Trade Center in 1972. With the destruction of the World Trade Center in the September 11, 2001 attacks, the Empire State Building again became the tallest building in New York City, and the second-tallest building in the United States.
Over the years, more than thirty people have committed suicide from the top of the building. The first suicide from the building occurred even before its completion by a worker after being laid off. The fence around the observatory terrace was put up in 1947 after five people tried to jump during a three-week span. In 1979, Elvita Adams jumped from the 86th floor, only to be blown back onto the 85th floor and left with only a broken hip. The building was also the site of suicides in 2004 and 2006. The last suicide was by a lawyer who leaped from the 69th floor on Friday, April 13, 2007.
The Empire State Building has one of the most popular outdoor observatories in the world, having been visited by over 110 million people. The 86th floor observation deck offers impressive 360-degree views of the city. There is a second observation deck on the 102nd floor that is open to the public. It was closed in 1999, but reopened in November 2005. Completely enclosed and much smaller; it may be closed on high-traffic days.
The Empire State Building Run-Up is a foot race from ground level to the 86th floor observation deck that has been held annually since 1978. Its participants are referred to both as runners and as climbers. The race covers a vertical distance of 1,050 ft (320 m) and takes in 1,576 steps. The record time is 9 minutes and 33 seconds, achieved by Australian professional cyclist Paul Crake in 2003, a climbing rate of 6,593 ft (2,010 m) per hour.
Even though so much time has passed, Empire State Building is still one of the most tallest and interesting architecture wonders in the world.
The Bank of China Tower
March 31st, 2008
Designed by I. M. Pei, the building is 305 m (1,000.7 ft) high with two masts reaching 367.4 m (1,205.4 ft) high. It was the tallest building in Hong Kong and Asia from 1989 to 1992, and it was the first building outside the United States to break the 305 m (1,000 ft) mark. It is now the third tallest skyscraper in Hong Kong, after Two International Finance Centre and Central Plaza.
The 6,700m² site on which the building is constructed was formerly the location of Murray House. After its brick-by-brick relocation to Stanley, the site was sold by the Government for "only HK$1 billion" in August 1982 amidst growing concern over the future of Hong Kong in the run-up to the transfer of sovereignty.
Once developed, gross floor area was expected to be 100,000 m². The original project was intended for completion on the auspicious date of August 8, 1988. However, owing to project delays, groundbreaking took place in March 1987, almost two years late. It was topped out in 1989, and occupied in May 1990.
The building was initially built by the Hong Kong Branch of the Bank of China; its Garden Road entrance continues to display the name "Bank of China", rather than BOCHK. The top four and the bottom 19 stories are used by the Bank, whilst the other floors are leased out. Ownership has since been transferred to BOCHK, although the Bank of China has leased back several floors for use by its own operations in Hong Kong.
The Government had apparently given preferential treatment to Chinese companies, and was again criticised for the apparent preferential treatment to the BOCHK.
The price paid was half the amount of the 6,250 m² Admiralty II plot, for which the MTR Corporation paid HK$1.82 billion in cash. The BOC would make initial payment of $60 million, with the rest payable over 13 years at 6% interest. The announcement of the sale was also poorly handled, and a dive in business confidence ensued. The Hang Seng Index fell 80 points, and the HK$ lost 1.5% of its value the next day.
Designed by Pritzker Prize-winning architect I. M. Pei, the building is 305.0 metres (1,000.7 ft) high with two masts
reaching 367.4 metres (1,205.4 ft) high. The 72 story building is located near Central MTR station. This was the tallest building in Hong Kong and Asia from 1989 to 1992, the first building outside the United States to break the 305 m (1,000 ft) mark, and the first composite space frame high-rise building. That also means it was the tallest outside America from its completion year, 1990. It is now the third tallest skyscraper in Hong Kong, after Two International Finance Center and Central Plaza.
A small observation deck on the 43rd floor of the building is open to the public; visits to the main observation deck on the 70th floor are by appointment only.
The structural expressionism adopted in the design of this building resembles growing bamboo shoots, symbolising livelihood and prosperity. The whole structure is supported by the five steel columns at the corners of the building, with the triangular frameworks transferring the weight of the structure onto these five columns. It is covered with glass curtain walls. While its distinctive look makes it one of Hong Kong's most identifiable landmarks today, it was the source of some controversy at one time, as the bank is the only major building in Hong Kong to have bypassed the convention of consulting with feng shui masters on matters of design prior to construction.
Bank of China by nightThe building has been criticised by some practitioners of Feng Shui for its sharp edges and its negative symbolism by the numerous 'X' shapes in its original design, though Pei modified the design to some degree before construction following this feedback. The building's profile from some angles resembles that of a meat cleaver. In Feng Shui, this is described as a cleaver building and it is not difficult to observe that it is facing the HSBC Hong Kong headquarters building in this guise.
