Reasons Taipei 101 is the coolest building in the world
Yeah, locals say it's a tourist trap but I will go to my grave defending it. It was the VERY first thing I did when I first came to Taiwan. I've been to the top four times and it's not nearly enough
1. Just LOOK at it! So beautiful!!!
The entire design of the building is chock full of symbolism, but that would honestly take a whole other post.
More than half a kilometer tall! It was the tallest building in the world from its completion in 2004 until the Burj Khalifa was finished. The only building outside of Asia that is taller than Taipei 101 is the One World Trade Center in NYC. It is STILL the tallest LEED-certified building in the world.
3. It also used to have the fastest elevators in the world!
You can get up to the observation deck in 37 seconds!
4. It's really tall AND was built in a VERY Earthquake-prone area, which is just badass
It was built only 200 meters away from a major fault line. It was built with a TON of innovations to withstand earthquakes up to a 9 on the Richter Scale. There are videos online of the observation deck at the top rocking during typhoons and major earthquakes, but the building is TOTALLY stable because...
5. It has a GIANT METAL BALL at the top to keep it from falling down in earthquakes and typhoons
It's called a mass damper and it's one of the reasons I'm so obsessed with this building. This thing has a diameter of 5.5 meters and weighs 660 metric tons (that's 728 American tons or whatever they're called)! Typhoons and earthquakes make this thing swing around (it moved a meter during a typhoon in 2015!) and that keeps the building itself from moving too much
6. The damper has mascots - Damper babies!
There's mascots for everything in East Asia... But these guys are a hit. There are four different babies in four different colors, all with their own personalities. There's so much merch for them too, and even comic books.
7. The entire building lights up on New Year's Eve!
Okay, this might actually be the coolest fact. In America, you go to Times Square and see the ball drop or something for NYE. In Australia you see the fireworks over the Sydney Opera House or whatever. But in Taiwan, Taipei 101 LAUNCHES FIREWORKS OUT OF ITS SIDES! AND the countdown clock is just the entire side of the building and there's a cool light show during the fireworks! Check it out!
8. The top of the building lights up in different colors depending on what day of the week it is!
It's a nice touch. It'll also do special light things for special events (like pride or the war in Ukraine), but generally:
9. It has a vertical marathon every year!
I almost forgot about it, but yeah. You can run up the stairs all the way to the top. Wild!
