Taipei 101

Designers and Builders:

C.Y. Lee and Partner, Architects, and Turner International Industries, Inc., project and construction management.

Vital Statistics:

With a massive 60-foot spire inspired by Taiwan's native bamboo plant, Taipei 101 Tower is one of the tallest buildings in the world. At 508 meters (1,667 feet) high, the tower and its spire outrank the Petronas Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Taipei Tower has 198,347 m2 (2,336,000 sq. ft.) of office space, 77,033 m2 (796,000 sq. ft.) of retail space, and 83,000 m2 (893,000 sq. ft.) of parking space for more than 1,800 vehicles.

Earthquake Safety:

Designing a building this large presented unique challenges because Twaiwan is subject to typhoons and earthquakes. To counter movement, a tuned mass damper system has been incorporated into the structure. The 800-metric ton (1,764,000 lbs.), spherical steel mass is located on level 88 and will be visible from the restaurant and observation decks. The system transfers the energy from the building to the swinging sphere, providing a stabilizing force.

Special Design Features:

The design of Taipei 101 borrows heavily from Chinese culture. Both the building’s interior and exterior incorporate the Chinese pagoda form and the shape of bamboo flowers. The lucky number eight, which means blooming or success, is represented by the eight clearly delineated exterior sections of the building.

Observation Decks:

Located on floors 89 and 91, the observation decks include the highest restaurant in Taiwan. Two high speed elevators reach a maximum speed of 1,010 meters/minute (55 ft./second) when traveling to the 89th floor.

San Juanico Bridge

The San Juanico Bridge, is a suspension bridge in the Philippines stretching from Samar to Leyte crossing the San Juanico Strait. It is also known as the “Marcos Bridge”, it is said to have been presented as a “gift and testimonial love” by the Philippine president Ferdinand Marcos to the first lady Imelda, a native of Leyte. It is part of the Pan-Philippine Highway. It is the longest bridge in the Philippines with a length of 2.16 kilometers and is considered one of the most beautifully-designed bridges in Philippines. The bridge is supported by 43 spans rising 41 meters above the sea. It has a large arch beneath which allows boats to pass.

Connecting Tacloban City on the Leyte side and Santa Rita town on the Samar side, it offers many picturesque views, especially of the San Juanico Strait with its thousand whirlpools as well as the islets of the province. It is approximately 10 minutes from downtown Tacloban City and is accessible by passenger jeepney, bus, motorcab or private vehicle.

Construction on the 21.9 million-dollar bridge began in 1969 and was completed in 1973, during the presidency of Ferdinand Marcos. The Construction and Development Corporation of the Philippines (now the Philippine National Construction Corporation) was contracted to construct the actual bridge, and together with Japanese engineers, conducted studies and designed the actual project.

Gone for the Weekend

Sitou (Nature Education Area and a Forrest Recreation Area)

By eight thirty, we begin our journey as the fast-rising sun has already taken the cool edge of the early morning air and we feel its glowing heat against our faces. We know it’s going to be a hot day. Although still fairly early, we are surrounded by throngs of people. We are separated respectively according to our destination. While our tour guide is busy with his megaphone to blare out requests to wait patiently, we are ready and excited to begin our adventure.

It will take us a long journey before we arrive to our destination because Sitou is located at the foot of Fenghuang Mountain in Nantou County’s Lugu Township, northern part of Taiwan; it is at the source of the Beishih River.

After three hours of travel at last we arrived. As our tour guides instructing us some guidelines, we are busy preparing our belongings to bring because once up in the hills there are plenty of fine walks, both easy and more strenuous. With a map on our hand my friend and I decided to separate from the group to have more thrill and excitement. Aside from being famous in towering ancient trees and trails that lead in all directions and a cold breeze of wind that blows your faces, sitou has a lot to offer they have their University Pond, in which it was created to keep logs moist, and then later became their representative landmark.

The Sky Walk, the first sky walk in a forest in Taiwan. The walkway is 180 meter long and 22.6 meter (that’s seven stories) above the ground. From the walkway, you can experience life in the tree tops and observe how it changes with the four seasons. Walkway enables visitors to touch the trees by walking amidst them instead of just looking up from the ground. You can closely observe the symbiotic relationship the trees have with ferns and orchids and watch the birds perched on top of their branches.

The Giant Tree, there is a huge boulder inside the giant tree, although the center is mostly rotted out and hollow but it lives on. On the front, there is a resting cottage that you can watch from the top of the forest like immersing oneself in a dark green lake.

The Forest Exploration Park, the first park for forest exploration in taiwan wich combined wide spread forest, murmuring stream abundant ecological resources. By three route ways of amphibian, bird and reptile connected with and eight outposts in this park, you can be affected by fresh forest experrience under a series of amazing.

The Bamboo House and Cottages, you will experience the architecturally unique bamboo made cottages and elegant furnitures design by the famous architect Mr. Pao-Teh Han.

If you feel like being exhausted because of your busy schedule, hurrying for the deadline or feel like being strees and you are looking for an adventure i think Sitou is a great place to visit. This would be an impressive place for those nature lover. They have a complete facilities, a hotels for overnight staying, a restaurant with different specialties to choose and even a spa to relax after the hike.

Sad to say the day has gone and the sun is hurrying to hide forcing us to go down as fast as we could because again it will take us a long journey to go back from our origin. The time wasn’t enough we still want to visit the professor Wang Memorial Pavillion, the mount Phoenix Overlook and the Astronomical Observatory. We want to stay but we cant becuase we still have lot of things to do tommorow. We are very tired, tired not because of our work but rather because of our adventure that was filled with trill and excitement. We are ready to face a new challenges, as our body was energized and our mind was refreshed. This was a lifetime experience because we only have three months more to go to stay here in taiwan, but then, if i will be given a chance to go back I will…..I dont know… I hope so…