The Taipei 101 is a 106-story building (5 underground floors and 101 above ground), located in Taipei (Taiwan). The needle that crowns its 509 meters high makes it the third tallest skyscraper in the world. It exceeds 56 meters to the Petronas Towers of Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia). On July 21, 2007, it was surpassed in height by Burj Dubai, which when finished will hold the title of the tallest building in the world.
Able to house 12,000 people, it was built to withstand typhoons and earthquakes. It is the framework of international reference for any building that proposes the search for sustainability and responsibility with the environment.
More efficient and sustainable
It was the first building in the world of its size to obtain the LEED-EBOM Platinum certificate (acronym in English for Leader in Energy Efficiency and Sustainable Design), which makes it the highest green building in the world.
During the last two years, building automation and energy efficiency have been optimized to achieve a 10% saving in the use of electricity, water consumption and waste production. Indoor air quality now complies with the main standards stipulated by LEED. The energy consumption of 'Taipei 101' is now 30% lower than the average of buildings, which represents a saving of the annual energy cost of about 700,000 US dollars.
Among many other measures, temperature and air conditioning are controlled through 3,400 control box terminals located throughout the building. Taking advantage of the night temperature drop, this system produces ice and stores it to reduce the cooling load during the day. The lighting is centrally controlled by an automation system developed by Siemens.
When a room is not inhabited, air conditioning and lighting go off automatically.
By obtaining the LEED Platinum certificate, 'Taipei 101' now achieves an annual CO2 savings of 2,995 tons, which is equivalent to avoiding the deforestation of more than 4 hectares of forests or the use of 239 cars per year. In addition, 28,000 metric tons of water are also saved and 1,261 metric tons of garbage are lost per year. The energy consumption is 4.8 million kWh less than before implementing the measures required to obtain the LEED certificate. And, in order to minimize the use of electricity and its impact on the environment, 'Taipei 101' includes the largest distribution system in Asia. The temperature and air conditioning are controlled through 3,400 control box terminals, located throughout the building. At night temperatures drop, so this same system produces ice and stores it to reduce the cooling load during the day.
Curiosities
Like many emblematic buildings, Taipei 101 often changes its lighting to remind us of different events. In the image we see the Taipei 101 with a well-known formula in physics that was put to commemorate the world year of physics of 2005. In addition the building has been illuminated with Christmas motifs and has been used to launch several times the fireworks New Year's and festivities (see gallery images).
The Taipei 101 is so large that it is thought that its weight of 700,000 tons has been able to reopen an old geological fault that could cause future earthquakes. However there are geologists who say that this is not true, the weight of excavated earth is equal to the weight of Taipei 101, which means that there was no change in the force exerted on the fault.
Near the building there is an airport and the building is so high that catastrophes could be generated as the attacks of the twin towers. During the construction, in March of 2002, the city was shaken by an earthquake of force 6, some of the cranes collapsed to the void destroying vehicles and crushing five people.