Taipei 101: A 660-Ton Golden Damper, Bedrock Piles and Feng Shui

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Taipei 101 rose in a city on the Pacific Ring of Fire, about 200 meters from a major fault line and in the path of typhoons, and held the title of world's tallest building from its 2004 completion until the Burj Khalifa passed it in 2009. Its foundation uses 380 piles driven 80 meters into soft soil, some sunk 30 meters into bedrock, each about 1.5 meters wide and able to carry over 1,000 metric tons. On March 31, 2002, a magnitude 6.8 earthquake threw two cranes from the 56th floor onto Xinyi Road, killing five people, yet inspectors found no structural damage to the unfinished tower.

Against wind, a 660 metric ton steel sphere hangs between the 88th and 92nd floors as a tuned mass damper, cutting sway by up to 40%, and during Typhoon Soudelor in August 2015 it moved a full meter. Painted gold and put on display, it spawned the Damper Baby mascot. Architect C.Y. Lee wrapped the engineering in symbolism: eight tiers of eight floors, bamboo and pagoda forms, and ruyi ornaments. A 2011 retrofit costing $1.8 million earned LEED Platinum certification.

Double stair-step corners, tested in a wind tunnel in Ontario, Canada, break up the wind before vortex shedding can rock the tower.
Pressurized Toshiba elevators travel at 60.6 km/h, rising from the fifth floor to the 89th floor observatory in 37 seconds.
Low-emissivity double-pane glass blocks 50% of outside heat, helping save 14.4 million kilowatt hours a year.
Captured rainwater supplies up to 30% of the building's water needs.
A granite fountain with a spinning ball sits at a T-intersection by the east entrance to redirect qi under feng shui.

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