Wednesday 30 January 2013

Towering Taipei 101

Go big or go home. Taipei chose the former in 2003 and ended up with the world's tallest building at the time of completion. The tower has slipped a couple of notches to third, but you'd have to be a height snob not to be impressed by its presence.

Taipei 101 is indeed 101 stories, a lucky number to the Chinese. It rises to a height of 1,670 feet, for those geeks measuring at home (like James).

The big boy. The overall design echoes bamboo.


More impressive up close, when one starts to realize the (over) scale. Typical of modern skyscrapers, the base starts with a giant shopping mall. An entrance awning, a nod to Asian architectural heritage.

The building has to start somewhere - a corner. The graphic in the elevator, gobbling floors like a video game.

Room with plenty of view. That's city hall to the left, the tan building with the H helipad on the roof. From this angle, you get a good impression that Taipei 101 is built way beyond the height of anything else in the city. Ho hum, the view from our cell phones is much more exciting.

Another look at ground level, emphasizing the tower's skyline dominance.




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