Why Humans Build Up by Gregor Craigie

Author:Gregor Craigie
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781459827189
Publisher: Orca Book Publishers
Published: 2022-07-20T16:40:22+00:00

Innovative and Beautiful

For all its innovation, what catches the eye of millions of people who look at Taipei 101 is its beautiful shape. Architects C.Y. Lee and C.P. Wang modeled their supertall tower on a traditional Chinese pagoda, with the main tower separated into eight stacking levels, called dou, each of which is eight stories high. The number eight is lucky in Chinese culture and is associated with abundance and good fortune. The architects followed the principles of feng shui, an ancient Chinese practice based on creating balance between people and the environment. They said the building’s eight dou give it a sense of rhythm and scale that “diminishes its height through repeated order.”

While many Western skyscrapers either shoot straight up or slope inward like a pyramid, the eight levels of Taipei 101 flare up and out, reflecting traditional Chinese values of welcoming the natural world. The building also includes many square and round shapes, to balance the yin and yang of the building. In designing Taipei 101, architects C.Y. Lee and C.P. Wang struck a balance between old and new.

HIGHLIGHTS

In the Eye of the Storm

Taipei 101 was built with modern materials that make it strong enough to resist the typhoon winds and earthquakes that strike Taiwan. The building stands only 650 feet (200 meters) from a major fault line! A giant 661-ton (600-metric-ton) steel ball, called a tuned mass damper, hangs inside the building from the 92nd floor down to the 87th floor. It counteracts the building’s side-to-side movements in strong wind.

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