Taipei 101 (台北101)

This was my first visit to Taipei 101(台北101), currently the highest office building in the world. I've left from my flat and walked 45 minutes in Taipei before I reached the foot of the tower. The height of the tower can only be perceived when you are at its foot and try to look at its summit; from far away it just looks like a tall building. One very interesting thing in Taipei 101 is its Tuned Mass Damper (or TMD) which is shown to the public. It's basically a big chunk of steel mounted on hydaulic actuators. The setup looks like a flight simulator system which makes perfect sense given the job of the TMD. Taking photos of the TMD is not so easy, especially if you want to keep its gold color (= no flash). A few movies are projected around the TMD explaining a bit how it works and how it was built.

Taipei 101 is ready for Christmas, New Year(s) and Valentine's day! Yes, Taiwan people are fond of colorful lightings for buildings (see other examples on this website) and Taipei 101 is no exception. During my 4 months in Taipei I've seen 4 different decorations of the tower: Christmas Tree, Happy New Year, Chinese New Year and Valentine's Day. At first I thought that the lighting was fully reconfigurable but it turns out that they put light boxes in front of selected windows. The illumination of the tip is different: the lower part changes color regularly (3-4 minutes) and the upper tip is always bright yellow. Just so you know ;-)