TAIPEI 101

TAIPEI 101 - A structural marvel created by combining the best of all structural systems.

SOME BASIC INFORMATION

Architect C.Y.Lee & Partners

Structural Engineer Shaw Shieh

Structural Consult. Thornton-Tomasetti Engineers, New York City

Year Started June 1998 (Mall already open)

Total Height 508m

No. of Floors 101

Plan Area 50m X 50m

Cost $ 700 million

Building Use Office Complex + Mall

Parking - 83,000 m2, 1800 cars

Retail - Taipei 101 Mall (77,033 m2)

Offices - Taiwan Stock Exchange (198,347 m2)

CONCEPTION
Taipei 101, formerly known as the Taipei World Financial Center, is a landmark skyscraper located
in Xinyi District, Taipei, Republic of China. The building ranked officially as the world's tallest from
2004 until the opening of the Burj Khalifa in Dubai in 2010. In July 2011, the building was awarded
LEED Platinum certification, the highest award in the Leadership in Energy and Environmental
Design (LEED) rating system and became the tallest and largest green building in the world. Taipei
101 was designed by C.Y. Lee & partners and constructed primarily by KTRT Joint Venture. The
tower has served as an icon of modern Taiwan ever since its opening, and received the 2004
Emporis Skyscraper Award. Fireworks launched from Taipei 101 feature prominently in
international New Year's Eve broadcasts and the structure appears frequently in travel literature
and international media.

Taipei 101 comprises 101 floors above ground and 5 floors underground. The building was
architecturally created as a symbol of the evolution of technology and Asian tradition. Its
postmodernist approach to style incorporates traditional design elements and gives them modern
treatments. The tower is designed to withstand typhoons and earthquakes. A multi-level shopping
mall adjoining the tower houses hundreds of fashionable stores and Restaurants.
DESIGN
The overall appearance was meant to evoke strong Chines beliefs and traditions, a building that
would be an icon for the city of Taipei by illustrating its communitys attributes. The number 101
symbolizes perfection by being a step further than 100. Dividing the tower into eight floor
segments was also inspired by the Chinese culture, in which this number represents abundance,
prosperity and good fortune. Both the interior and the exterior of the Taipei World Financial Center
were diverted from the shape of a Chinese pagoda and the form of bamboo flowers. The concepts
of financial richness and everlasting youth in Chinese culture are represented by a blossoming
flower, which inspired the designers to make the building open upwards. Naturally there are many
other small design elements that were inspired by the same beliefs, all pointing out to the idea
that the designers were very fond of the Chinese culture and chose to include as many traditional
elements as possible in the design of the Taipei World Financial Center

ARCHITECTURAL STYLE

Structure depicts a bamboo stalk

Youth and Longevity

Everlasting Strength

Pagoda Style

Eight prominent sections

Chinese lucky number 8

In China, 8 is a homonym for prosperity

Even number = rhythm and symmetry

BUILDING FRAME

Materials

60ksi Steel

10,000 psi Concrete

Systems

Outrigger Trusses

Moment Frames

Belt Trusses

Lateral Load Resistance

Braced Moment Frames in the buildings core

Outrigger from core to perimeter

Perimeter Moment Frames

Shear walls

Basement and first 8 floors

CONSTRUCTION PROCESS

380 piles with 3 inch concrete slab.

Mega columns- 8 cm thick steel & 10,000 psi concrete infill to provide for overturning.

Walls - 5 & 7 degree slope.

106,000 tons of steel, grade 60- 25% stronger.

6 cranes on site steel placement.

Electrical & Mechanical.

Curtain wall placement.

CHALLENGES FACED

Taipei being a coastal city the problems present are:

Weak soil conditions (The structures tend to sink).

Typhoon winds (High lateral displacement tends to topple structures).

Large potential earthquakes (Generates shear forces).

FOUNDATION

The building is a pile through clay rich soil to bedrock 40 60 m below.The plies are topped
by a foundation slab which is 3m thick at the edges and up to 5m thick under the largest of
columns.There are a total of 380 1.5m dia. Tower piles.
COLUMN SYSTEM

Photos of Site during Construction

Gravity loads are carried vertically by a variety of columns.Within the core, sixteen columns
are located at the crossing points of four lines of bracing in each direction.The columns are
box sections constructed of steel plates, filled with concrete for added strength as well as
stiffness till the 62nd floor.
On the perimeter, up to the 26th floor, each of the four building faces has two
supercolumns, two sub-super-columns, and two corner columns.Each face of the perimeter
above the 26th floor has the two super-columns continue upward.The super-columns and
sub-super-columns are steel box sections, filled with 10,000 psi (M70) high performance
concrete on lower floors for strength and stiffness up to the 62nd floor.

Typical plan upto 26th storey

LATERAL LOADING SYSTEM

Typical plan from 27th to 91st storey

For additional core stiffness, the lowest floors from basement to the 8th floor have concrete shear walls cast
between core columns in addition to diagonal braces.

The most of the lateral loads will be resisted by a combination of braced cores, cantilevers
from the core to the perimeter, the super columns and the Special moment resisting frame
(SMRF).The cantilevers (horizontal trussed from the core to the perimeter) occur at 11 levels
in the structure. 5 of them are double storey high and the rest single storey.16 of these
members occur on each of such floors.
The balance of perimeter framing is a sloping Special Moment Resisting
Frame (SMRF), a rigidly-connected grid of stiff beams and H shape columns which follows the
towers exterior wall slope down each 8 story module.At each setback level, gravity load is
transferred to super-columns through a story-high diagonalized truss in the plane of the
SMRF.Above the 26th floor, only two exterior super-columns continue to rise up to the 91st
floor, so the SMRF consists of 600 mm deep steel wide flange beams and columns, with
columns sized to be significantly stronger than beams for stability in the event of beam
yielding.Each 7-story of SMRF is carried by a story-high truss to transfer gravity and
cantilever forces to the super-columns, and to handle the greater story stiffness of the core at
cantilever floors.
FLOOR SLAB (STRUCTURAL DIAPHRAGMS)
Slabs are composite in nature and are typically 13.5 cms thick.
CORE
Within the core, sixteen columns are located at the crossing points of four lines of bracing in
each direction.

WIND DAMPER

The TAIPEI 101 Observatory has the world's largest and heaviest wind damper with a diameter
reaching 5.5 m (18 feet) and a weight of 660 tons. It is the only operational wind damper in the

world exposed for public viewing. The wind damper is suspended between the 92nd and 87th
floors and is composed of 41 layers of 12.5 cm (5 inch) thick steel plates riveted together, serving
as one of the key elements of wind and earthquake resistance systems of TAIPEI 101.

Tuned Mass Damper(TMD

The complete name of the TAIPEI 101 wind damper is the tuned mass damper (TMD). The TMD
has been specifically designed as a passive damper system and is positioned at the center of the
tower between the 87th and 91nd floors. Its main purpose is to reduce the swaying of the tower
during strong winds and eliminate any resulting discomfort experienced by anyone within the
building. Unlike conventional damper systems that are usually hidden from public view, special
functional and aesthetic considerations have been made for the TAIPEI 101 wind damper so that
visitors can take a look at the entire wind damper system and see how it operates at the
Observatory.
INTRODUCTION TO THE STRUCTURE OF WIND DAMPER

Mass Block
The mass damper is composed of 41 layers of 12.5 cm (5 inch) thick solid steel plates stacked and
riveted together to form a sphere that measures 5.5 m (18 feet) in diameter with a weight of 660
tons.

Cable

The mass block is suspended from the 92nd floor using eight steel cables measuring 8.9 cm (3.5
inch) in diameter and 42 m (138 feet) in length. In order to ensure cable flexibility and maximize
its durability, each steel cable is composed of over 2000 steel strands, achieving a designed safety
coefficient of 4. In other words, only 1/4 of the steel cables are required to support the entire
mass of the wind damper. The design allows a maximum swaying amplitude of 150 cm.

Hydraulic Viscous Damper

Eight diagonal primary hydraulic viscous dampers were installed below the mass block that were
designed to automatically absorb the impulse caused by the swaying of the mass block and use
the tower's own movement to cancel the absorbed energy.

Bumper System
A bumper ring has been installed under the mass block to restrict the swaying of the spherical
mass block. The bumper ring itself is connected to eight horizontal snubber hydraulic viscous
dampers designed to limit the swaying of the wind damper ball to within 150 cm on very rare
major typhoons or powerful earthquakes.

AWARDS

Seven Wonders of Engineering by Discovery Channel in 2005

7 New Wonders of the World by Newsweek Magazine in April 2006
Best of Whats New Award 2004- Engineering, Popular Science Magazine
Guinness World Records of the Worlds Fastest Passenger Elevators (Observatory Elevators 1,010
m/min)
Tallest Building in the World by the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH

MILESTONE
20 October 1997: Development and operation rights agreement signed with Taipei City
government.

13 January 1999: Excavations Started.

7 June 2000: First tower column erected.

13 April 2001: Design change to 509.2 m height approved by Taipei City government.

13 June 2001: Taipei 101 Mall topped out.

10 August 2001: Construction license awarded for 101 stories.

31 March 2002: Partially constructed building survives 6.8 magnitude earthquake undamaged.

13 March 2003: Taipei 101 Mall obtains occupancy permit.

1 July 2003: Taipei 101 Tower roof completed.

17 October 2003: Pinnacle Placed.

14 November 2003: Taipei 101 mall opens.

15 April 2004: Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat certifies Taipei 101 as world's tallest
building.

12 November 2004: Tower obtains occupancy permit.

31 December 2004: Tower opens to Public.

1 January 2005: First New Year Eve Fireworks Display starts at midnight.

REFERENCE
http://www.taipei-101.com.tw/en/observatory-damper.aspx#SCROLL2
http://www.archinomy.com/case-studies/671/taipei-101-a-case-study
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taipei_101