TAIPEI 101
Visiting the tallest eco-friendly building in the world
Written by Maarten van Disseldorp
Creative at VBAT
Last year I visited Taipei 101 in Taiwan. At 508 meters this is the tallest eco-friendly building in the world. The striking iconic exterior is inspired by bamboo. On the inside it contains many marvels of engineering. Like many of today’s skyscrapers this tower is equipped with what is called a ‘tuned mass damper’. Everyone visiting the top floors can gaze at the dramatically lit gold coloured sphere, that could easily pass as an art object or very well be some sort of James Bond villain’s weapon. It does actually no harm. Far from it, as this is the key safety device guaranteeing the stability of Taipei 101. Swaying motions that can be a result of a gust of wind are reduced by up to 40 percent. Basically it acts a giant pendulum, that swings the opposite way to keep the massive structure upright in the most severe conditions.
This area of the world is prone to typhoons and earthquakes on a regular basis. Luckily there was no sign of movement in it when I was there, however the incredible force of recent typhoon Soudelor caused the damper to sway by about one meter! A new record for the most extreme movement so far. The maximum the steel ball is able to move is 1.5 meters in any direction. Footage from August 8 of the tuned mass damper in action.
The force of the typhoon was also demonstrated by bent postboxes, that went viral quickly and a jumbojet bouncing up and down whilst parked on the tarmac.
The world’s largest and heaviest tuned mass damper, at 660 metric tons, with a diameter of 5.5 meters is an unlikely candidate to be being turned into a cute figurine, but they have. You can have your picture taken with ‘Damper Baby’ in several places. They’ve given the mascot 5 different characters, that reflect some of Taipei’s landmark main characteristics. The happy green one I got educates the visitor about the sustainable technology that makes Taipei 101 unique. Other colours are lucky red, cool black, smart silver and rich gold.
Besides the damper and the obvious stunning views from the top, the elevator is quite an experience too, as it’s still the fastest in the world at 60 km/h.
For more information about Taipei 101 also check Megastructures:
Enjoy the ride!
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Written by Maarten van Disseldorp
Creative at VBAT
