1999: Taipei 101 – Taipei, Taiwan

   
Image Credits: 1,2

Building: Taipei 101
Location: Xinyi District, Taipei, Taiwan
Year: Construction began in 1999, Completed and Opened in 2004
Owned By: Taipei Financial Center Corporation
Architect: C.Y. Lee & Partners
Structural Engineer: Thorton Tomasetti

Taipei 101 was the tallest building from 2004-2010. It was awarded LEED platinum certification in July 2011 making it the world’s tallest and largest green building. Taipei 101 has 106 floors total with 5 of the floors being underground making it 1,667 feet from ground to the top of the spire. It was the first building in the world to break half-kilometer mark in height. Because of the typhoons and earthquakes common to the area, Taipei 101 was designed to withstand winds of 134 mph and the strongest earthquakes that might occur in the next 2500 year cycle. A 660 tonnes steel pendulum, the largest and heaviest in the world, is used as a tuned mass damper and is suspended from the 87^th to the 92^nd floors of the building to offset movements in the building from strong wind gusts. The spire contains two 4.5 tonne tuned mass dampers to reduce wind fatigue as well. The repeated segments of the building relate to Asian Pagodas. The influence of pagodas can also be seen in the use of the tuned mass dampers. This technique was used in pagodas to lessen the effect of earthquakes on the structure. [1, 2]

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