Taipei 101, Taipei, Taiwan

Home to the world's fastest elevator.Height: 508 meters

Cost to build: US$1.8 billion

Completion date: 2004

Fast fact: The building is designed to resemble a growing bamboo stalk, a symbol of everlasting strength in Chinese culture.
Taiwan doesn’t have many ostentatious records in its humble history, but Taipei 101 defies this tradition.

It is the first skyscraper to soar past the half-kilometer mark and it sat at the pinnacle of the skyscraper world from 2004 to 2009. 

Taipei 101 can also claim the “world’s fastest passenger elevator” title.

At an ear-popping 1,010 meters per minute, it takes merely 37 seconds to catapult passengers from the fifth floor to the highest point in Taiwan. 

Ritualistically, Taipei 101 is supported by the lucky number eight in many aspects of its design, including the number of sections and super columns. It also incorporates the form of a Chinese pagoda and evokes the shape of sprouting bamboo flowers.

Overall structure

Taipei 101 is designed to hold up against the typhoon winds and earthquake tremors frequent in this specific area of the Asia-Pacific. Planners wanted a structure that could hold up against powerful winds of 60 m/s and the strongest earthquakes most likely to occur in a 2,500 year period.

Skyscrapers must be flexible in strong winds but also needs to remain firm enough to reduce large sideways motion. Flexibility prevents structural damage while resistance assures protection of glass, curtain walls and other. Thirty-six columns support Taipei 101, including eight “mega-columns” loaded with 10,000 psi concrete. Every eight floors, outrigger trusses connect the columns in the building’s core with the exterior.