Discovery_Taipei 101
Transcript
00:00Taipei 101, the world's tallest skyscraper, 508 meters of the most high-tech engineering
00:19and construction on the planet, mixing ancient values with cutting-edge technology and taking
00:28the heart of Taiwan into the future.
00:44Designing and building the world's tallest skyscraper is no easy task, but here in Taipei,
00:50two of the most powerful forces of nature, earthquakes and typhoons, combine to make
00:54going super tall a super challenge.
00:57I mean, any tall building in the world is a feat of engineering.
01:03Using world-leading engineering and construction techniques, Taipei 101 not so much conquers
01:09nature but outsmarts it.
01:11This is the only super tall building in the world that's designed in a seismically active
01:17zone.
01:18This has never been done before, certainly not to this scale.
01:23The result is a man-made marvel, a unique megastructure of unprecedented size, shape
01:30and technology, built to withstand the very worst that nature can dish out.
01:35I, for one, I'm a structural engineer.
01:38If there's going to be an earthquake in Taipei, I want to be in this building.
01:42I mean, I'll choose this above all else.
01:45And it's not just as a superstructure where Taipei 101 pushes the boundaries.
01:51We are not only managing a building or a city of a city.
01:56I believe we are managing the symbol and landmark of Taiwan.
02:01Taipei 101 is a benchmark of technological brilliance and innovation, a record-breaking
02:09megastructure that defies nature and puts the small island of Taiwan firmly amongst
02:15the giants of global industry.
02:19For as long as humans have been making buildings, those buildings have been getting taller.
02:26From the Empire State Building in 1931, Sears Tower in 1974, Central Plaza Hong Kong in
02:331992, to the recent Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur, skyscrapers are buildings that go
02:42beyond functionality.
02:44They are symbols of prosperity and power, icons of wealth and industrial might.
02:51If you're looking at the history of skyscrapers, really you begin in America, Chicago and New
02:59York are the classic cases.
03:02But in the last, let's say, 10, 15 years, Asia's really boomed with regards to the building
03:07of large structures.
03:09In recent years, Asia has seen an explosion of megascale building and industry.
03:15The region now holds eight of the world's ten tallest buildings.
03:20And as modern construction methods and materials continue to improve, designers will continue
03:25to aim ever higher.
03:28Not because they have to, but because they can.
03:32Developer Harris Lin is one of the most powerful and successful businessmen in all of Taiwan.
03:39A member of a major construction dynasty, for him, Taipei 101 is the result of a lifelong
03:45ambition.
03:46Since I was a boy, I have dreamt that one day I would build a great building, one which
03:51will benefit later generations for a very long time.
03:56For Harris Lin, Taipei 101 is more than just a building.
04:01It's a statement on Taiwan, its people and its future.
04:06A notice to the rest of the world that Taiwan has the technology, the industry and the determination
04:13not just to join the giants of global industry, but to lead them.
04:18There's no better way, really, of getting global attention than building these super
04:21tall buildings, particularly if it's the highest in the world.
04:25Initially earmarked as the centerpiece for the growing and glitzy Cheongshan district
04:30known as Taipei's Manhattan, the primary goal for the building is to be the best, but not
04:35necessarily the tallest.
04:38Long-standing friend of Harris, architect C.P. Wang from C.Y.
04:42Lee and Associates, comes into the project in the early stages.
04:46We started with three buildings, a 60-story building in the center and two smaller buildings
04:54that are about 20 stories for the different shareholders.
05:01The plans quickly evolve as key investors clamor to have the building push up, not out.
05:08The planned 60 stories soon turns into 88, and with the mantle of the world's tallest
05:13a mere 13 floors away, the momentum becomes unstoppable.
05:19We truly believed we could do it, that if we worked hard, we could make a building that
05:24was visible to the entire world.
05:29The three factors combine to make this project not only the tallest and most visible in the
05:33world, but also one of the most difficult to build.
05:38Taipei City is an inhospitable place to build a skyscraper.
05:42Beneath the earth, a thick layer of soft clay demands uniquely designed foundations, while
05:48above ground, the threat of earthquakes and typhoons requires a level of engineering and
05:53construction never before achieved.
05:58If Harris Lin wants to make the tallest building in the world here, his engineers and builders
06:03will have to confront the power of the earth, designing a structure flexible enough to resist
06:09an earthquake, but stiff enough to resist a typhoon, contradictory requirements that
06:14until now have never been combined.
06:18All these different mixtures of elements have to be blended almost superbly in order to
06:24make the building achievable.
06:27The solution will combine two revolutionary systems.
06:30First, a braced mega frame joined to eight super columns filled with a mixture of steel
06:36and concrete, and a tuned mass damper, a giant pendulum, the weight of 10,000 people, designed
06:42to oppose the effect of wind.
06:45The combination of these two concepts is groundbreaking.
06:49I am very proud of it, and as an architect, you don't get a lot of opportunity to work
06:54on something of this magnitude.
07:00Construction will take six years, 2,000 workers at any one time, and 700,000 tons of the most
07:06advanced steel and concrete ever made.
07:10These cost more than the national GDP of some countries.
07:14Yet despite all the investment, ingenuity, and determination of humankind, the forces
07:20of nature can strike at any time, whether you're ready or not.
07:38Taipei 101 will be built to withstand earthquakes and typhoons, but it also needs to withstand
07:44the test of time.
07:46To be a true landmark, it must look unique.
07:50Its appearance mixes traditional Chinese icons, bamboo for strength and resilience, a pagoda
07:56for serenity, the perfect form of an open flower, and the luck and prosperity associated
08:02with the number eight.
08:04We tried very hard to do something that we hope can represent the city, the island, as
08:12well as our culture.
08:15The result is this, 508 meters tall, 101 floors from ground level, a building that
08:25looks completely unique, but soon proves challenging to build.
08:33Every major skyscraper in the world is a trade-off between what will look good and what will
08:38stand up.
08:41For a tall building this height, you cannot escape in the practical matters.
08:51It has to work.
08:55Taipei 101 will be the tallest skyscraper on Earth, and the forces on a building of
09:01this scale are truly immense.
09:05Gravity forces it down, while wind pushes it sideways.
09:11Consistence is a tenuous balance between being strong enough to stay up, but not so heavy
09:16as to cause collapse.
09:20Most skyscrapers have exterior walls that are either straight up and down or sloping
09:24in, but Taipei 101's unique shape sees much of its exterior surface sloping out.
09:34Here at Evergreen Consulting, engineer Shuo Shi oversees plans that will translate Taipei
09:39101's unique exterior into one of the strongest, lightest, and most resilient interiors ever
09:45made.
09:46The shape of Taipei 101 is more complicated than regular tall buildings, because simple
09:55and straight lines will be easier to work with.
10:00Aesthetically, Taipei 101 is broken into sections resembling a stem of bamboo, but similarities
10:08with this fast-growing super plant don't end here.
10:12Just like bamboo, the distinct structural sections of 101 strengthen and support the
10:17whole building.
10:19Each section operates as an independent unit, transferring the building's massive weight
10:24away from the outside of the building and into the middle.
10:29The result is a stronger, lighter, and more flexible tower.
10:36For CP Wang, this sort of lateral problem-solving has been integral to the success of the project.
10:49Their aim is not just to be the highest, but to be their innovative best.
10:55Let me put it this way.
10:56It's not like the Wright brothers when they invented the airplane.
10:59Today, a lot of people know how to build an airplane, but it's how good it is that matters.
11:08The design of Taipei 101 requires unique engineering to facilitate a unique shape.
11:15But the next challenge facing designers pushes this engineering to the limit.
11:24How to make the tallest building in the world stand up against two of the mightiest forces
11:28of nature in one of the most hazard-prone cities on earth?
11:40Every year, the people and buildings of Taipei are under attack from two of nature's most
11:45primal and unstoppable phenomena.
11:48When you put a tall building on an old secondary earthquake fault line, which runs nearby here,
11:56and in a place where you get significant typhoons, that just has major, major challenges.
12:07The problem is that to resist wind, a building must be stiff, but to survive an earthquake,
12:13it must be flexible.
12:15Taipei 101 will have to be both.
12:18This is the only super-tall building in the world that's designed in a seismically active zone.
12:26This is really pushing engineering construction boundaries right to the limit.
12:33The island of Taiwan sits at the junction of two tectonic faults, where vast plates
12:38of the earth's crust grind together, causing earthquakes.
12:42The entire island is unstable.
12:46Three smaller faults run directly under Taipei itself, causing hundreds of earthquakes every year.
12:56The effect of an earthquake on a giant skyscraper can be catastrophic.
13:01The entire building is shaken to its foundation as intense waves of energy from the earth
13:05are transferred to every inch of the building's structure.
13:11To withstand these shocks, the building needs to be flexible, so it can move with a quake
13:16and not against it.
13:17If it's too stiff or brittle, it can break.
13:22Superficial damage, like broken windows or walls, can be repaired.
13:27But any damage to the internal steel framework of a building can be a disaster.
13:34As the tallest building in the world, Taipei 101 must be engineered to withstand major earthquakes.
13:41But just how major is something of a mystery.
13:45Geologist Dunstan Chen is one of the scientists charged with finding out the details.
13:50This is when we make the first design.
13:53We have to consider this fault.
13:55We know there's a fault somewhere here, but we don't know exactly where it is.
14:04An investigation is launched involving some of Taiwan's leading geologists to find out
14:09where the fault is and how far it is from the Taipei 101 site.
14:13They need to establish if it's active and how they should deal with it.
14:18The results shock everyone.
14:21Then we drilled number four.
14:23We encountered the fault.
14:26And this fault actually, the gorge was around ten meters thick.
14:31It's a huge one.
14:35In most earthquakes, the closer the building is to a fault, the worse the impact.
14:41The fault, found by Dunstan and his colleagues, is not only huge, it's close.
14:46Only 200 meters away from the 101 construction site.
14:51101 must be prepared to face the most extreme earthquake shocks imaginable.
15:03Here at the Nekri facility, scientists use a multidimensional shake table to simulate
15:08a variety of different earthquake scenarios.
15:12Scale models of different structural configurations are tested, and the information gained helps
15:18to design buildings that are better able to withstand the devastating impact of earthquakes.
15:27An earthquake shock delivers brutal vertical, horizontal, and twisting strain on a building.
15:35Every joint of every structural element is strained, and if there is one weak link, the
15:41whole lot can go.
15:45To keep 101 standing in a major earthquake, engineers develop a complex internal megastructure.
15:52The central core of the building is connected to eight incredibly strong supercolumns by
15:57a network of horizontal outrigger trusses.
16:03The supercolumns act like a giant flexible spine, enabling the building to flex and move
16:08if it needs to, but not break.
16:13Although the idea of supercolumns has been used in other buildings before, the size of
16:17101 takes this engineering to an entirely new level.
16:24But the threat of earthquakes isn't the only natural force that builders of Taipei 101
16:30have to worry about.
16:40Every summer, unstable equatorial air off the coast of Taiwan generates vicious typhoons
16:46that lash Taipei.
16:50These intense tropical storms, with winds of up to 200 kilometers per hour, can literally
16:55blow a building to pieces.
16:59But it's not just strong winds that designers of 101 have to worry about.
17:04The surface area of a skyscraper is so huge that even a small breeze can still have a
17:10major effect.
17:12As wind hits a building, it impacts in two ways.
17:16First, the exposed face of a building can be pushed by the wind like a giant invisible
17:21hand.
17:22But under certain conditions, the wind can generate pulsing vortexes on opposing sides
17:27of the structure.
17:29The vortexes begin to oscillate, exerting small but consistent pushes on alternating
17:34sides of the building, eventually causing it to sway.
17:39Like a child pumping their legs on a swing, each gust of wind adds energy.
17:46This swing can be so severe that occupants of high-rise buildings can experience motion
17:52sickness.
17:54Normally, engineers can accommodate this problem by making the internal structure of a building
18:00stiff and rigid.
18:04Being stiff is exactly what designers don't want in the event of an earthquake.
18:10Can engineers of 101 design a building that is both stiff and flexible at the same time?
18:17For the project to go ahead, they have to.
18:34Taipei 101 is so massive that finding ways to minimize the effects of wind is a vital
18:44element of its design.
18:50Engineers and scientists begin with the building's exterior.
18:54They find that by using re-entering or saw-toothed corners, the flow of wind around the building
18:59is drastically reduced.
19:01The results of wind tunnel testing, the re-entering corners help to reduce the dynamic wind response
19:13by 30 to 40 percent.
19:18Saw-toothed corners on a building hinder the formation and impact of the small wind vortexes
19:23that can cause it to sway.
19:25But just like the pumping of a child's legs on a swing, where each push adds energy to
19:30the last, even when the effect of wind on a skyscraper is reduced, energy will continue
19:36to gather unless it's removed.
19:38It's not the size of the push that matters, it's the repetition.
19:43If engineers can find a way of canceling this accumulation of energy, then the building's
19:47contradictory requirements of strength and flexibility will finally be met.
19:53Usually a lot of tall buildings use so-called computer-controlled mass to do that function.
20:02In our case, I think our very smart engineers come up with this passive tuned mass damper.
20:11The passive damper on 101 uses a huge weight hanging from an upper floor to counter the
20:17effect of wind.
20:19As Type A 101 sways in one direction, the tuned mass damper swings in the other, cancelling
20:25the build-up of energy and reducing the building's motion.
20:29Engineers of Type A 101 have made the impossible possible, designing a building that is stiff
20:35enough to survive a typhoon, yet flexible enough to survive an earthquake.
20:41But although these ideas seem to work on paper, they are yet to be proven in practice.
20:46101 is going to need a lot more than just new design to combat nature.
20:51It's going to need entirely new materials and construction methods as well.
20:59Type A 101's unique megastructure and wind damper will make the building resist the impact
21:04of earthquakes and violent storms.
21:07But all of this engineering means nothing unless the giant building has a solid foundation
21:11on which to sit.
21:16Finding solid ground in Type A is a lot harder than it sounds.
21:23Over hundreds of thousands of years, changing sea levels have filled the Type A basin with
21:28layers of soft, unstable silt and clay.
21:32In order for the tallest building in the world to remain standing, its foundations must penetrate
21:37through this layer, sometimes 60 metres thick, to find the solid bedrock below.
21:48Geotechnical engineers spend eight months collecting core samples to analyse the soil
21:53on the building site.
21:55They find three distinct layers of soft sediment before finally reaching solid ground.
22:02This information helps designers to develop detailed plans for 101's foundation structure.
22:11Preparing the foundations takes 15 months and removes 700,000 tonnes of earth from the
22:17site.
22:21The foundation of a skyscraper is one of its most vital structural elements.
22:26It must distribute the building's enormous weight evenly below ground, at the same time
22:31creating a super-strong base for the towering megastructure above.
22:36That's the key point for the whole building, that the building can stand up into the sky.
22:43To compensate for the inherently unstable ground of Type A, 101's foundation is designed
22:49to literally pin the building to the deep layer of bedrock below.
22:53A 23,000 cubic metre concrete slab sits on top of a complex system of 382 reinforced
23:01concrete piles.
23:09These piles transfer the building's weight and structure deep into the bedrock, meaning
23:14101 is more than just resting on the earth, it's fused to it.
23:21This unique foundation, combined with 101's mega-frame and damper, give the building an
23:26extraordinary earthquake-safety rating that exceeds even that of Taiwan's nuclear power
23:31plants.
23:32Inside the 101, during an earthquake, you watch out for the falling articles, OK?
23:39Rather than worry about the falling of the building.
23:44Type A 101 will not just be one of the strongest and most stable buildings in Taiwan, but one
23:49of the strongest and most stable buildings in the world.
23:55Building on the main megastructure begins in September 1999.
24:07If I look back, I feel it was more difficult than I expected.
24:12But I didn't feel that way when I was working, solving the problems every day.
24:20This isn't a construction workforce, it's a construction army.
24:42Here at the Kaohsiung China Steel Plant, some of the most high-tech steel manufacturing
24:46techniques in the world are being used to build the various elements of 101's ground-breaking
24:52megastructure.
24:53The basic idea of this building is so-called double tube structures, which means we're
25:01using the steel frame to create the outside tube, and then we're using the steel frame
25:06and the concrete columns to create inner tubes.
25:17The steel used in Type A 101 needs to be soft enough to weld, hard enough to carry the building's
25:23awesome bulk, and pliable or bendy enough not to weaken or break if it's rattled by
25:28an earthquake.
25:30Each of these requirements demands a different type of steel, a complex chemical cocktail
25:35of carbon, alloy and refined iron.
25:38More carbon makes it stronger, but too much, and it becomes stiff, brittle and hard to
25:44weld.
25:45The Kaohsiung plant develops five different kinds of steel for 101, each with a specific
25:52flex-to-strength ratio designed to suit its purpose and position in the building.
25:58The challenge for manufacturers is to make perfect steel into perfect components for
26:03101 each time, every time, day after day.
26:09Starting with the raw materials, massive blast furnaces push out 10,000 kilogram ingots of
26:15refined steel.
26:21The ingots are near-liquid hot, 1,200 degrees Celsius.
26:26An elaborate system of hot rollers and purification baths torture and squeeze the giant blocks
26:33into 90-millimeter-thick flat plates.
26:38Precision, control and consistency are crucial.
26:41Any imperfections mean weakness, and any weaknesses could be fatal for the mighty 101 megastructure.
26:50Patterns, ID numbers and cutting are all controlled by computer.
26:56This plant uses more electricity every day than a small city.
27:03From start to finish, each super column box section takes four months to make.
27:11The final product is big enough to park a car in, weighs as much as 90 tons and is as
27:17tall as a two-story building.
27:21Each of 101 super columns will need more than 50 of these box sections.
27:26That's more than 400 for the entire building.
27:29The next challenge facing builders will be to put them together.
27:34The integrity of 101's megastructure requires the super columns to act as single units.
27:39But joining 30 90-ton box sections into one seamless unit has never been done before.
27:46The super columns are designed to be as compact as possible.
27:50The super columns are designed to be as compact as possible.
27:55The super columns are designed to be as compact as possible.
28:01Yet again, 101 will tread new ground.
28:05Ordinary welding techniques simply won't cope with the enormity and detail of the task.
28:11Every millimetre of every join requires absolute perfection.
28:18Teams of six welders work simultaneously.
28:22The entire girth of each join is the same.
28:27The entire girth of each join has to be heated for the welds to bind.
28:33The scale of the task is mind-blowing.
28:36Each join takes at least 14 hours to complete.
28:40That's nearly two years welding in the super columns alone.
28:45The high-strength steel and advanced welding techniques used in 101 super columns
28:50give the building a strong and flexible backbone
28:53built to withstand the shock waves of a severe earthquake.
28:59But dealing with the building's incredible weight demands an entirely different type of strength,
29:04one that steel alone cannot provide.
29:09A building usually has two types of force, the tension force and the compression.
29:16And we all know steel works better for tension
29:20and the concrete works better for compression.
29:23The awesome weight or compression loading on the world's tallest structure
29:27would crush the super columns if they were hollow.
29:30But filling them with concrete to the 62nd floor
29:33combines the tensile strength of steel and the awesome compression strength of concrete.
29:39Making the system even more robust, engineers develop a concrete mix that is 60% stronger than normal.
29:47Concrete able to withstand an awesome 10,000 pounds per square inch of compression.
29:54The combined benefit of steel and concrete gives 101 the strongest, lightest
29:59and most flexible backbone of any skyscraper on the planet.
30:03A backbone that is about to be put to the ultimate test.
30:172.52pm, March 31st, 2002.
30:22A magnitude 6.8 earthquake rocks northern Taiwan.
30:36The entire island is brought to its knees.
30:39And in Taipei, only 135 kilometers from the quake epicenter,
30:44over 100 houses are destroyed and at least 5 buildings collapse.
31:00The quake wreaks havoc on the construction site of 101.
31:04Two purpose-built cranes topple 240 meters to the ground.
31:08Five workers are killed and dozens more injured.
31:13A taxi driver fleeing his vehicle is crushed.
31:17Taipei is a disaster zone.
31:22All work on the building stops.
31:25As aftershocks continue to strike, insurance disputes rage
31:28and engineers and surveyors check the massive building for hidden structural damage.
31:36It was a big challenge for me at the time.
31:39The 9-1-1 attack had happened in the USA just before.
31:43And so our people and our investors began to question
31:48whether we needed such a tall building in Taipei.
31:54The work ban continues, not just for days or weeks, but for three months.
32:00An earthquake, the very force 101 has been designed and built to survive,
32:05now threatens to destroy the building's future.
32:08Not physically, but financially.
32:12Morale plummets and a dark cloud hangs over the project.
32:20Finally, in July 2002, the building's surveyors give 101 a clean bill of health.
32:25The internal framework is intact and once more work can resume.
32:31But the victory is bittersweet.
32:34No scientific test could have proven so effectively
32:37that 101's megaframe can resist a severe earthquake.
32:44But no scientific test would have come at so great a cost.
32:49The notorious March 2002 earthquake has put 101's megaframe
32:53under the most extreme test imaginable.
33:03But as work resumes and the skyline of Taipei is increasingly dominated by 101,
33:08a geologist, a geologist, a geologist, a geologist, a geologist,
33:12a geologist, a geologist, a geologist, a geologist,
33:15As Taipei is increasingly dominated by 101,
33:17a geologist from a prestigious local university discovers a worrying combination of data.
33:23Although only one severe earthquake has struck Taipei since work on 101 began,
33:28there has also been an unusually high number of smaller ones.
33:33Taipei 101 might not just be the victim of recent quakes.
33:37It might be the cause.
33:39When the second fair earthquake occurs again, almost in the same location,
33:46then I take it very seriously to do some research work.
33:52The fact that Taipei is a seismic hotspot
33:55and that 101 is built only 200 metres from a dormant fault line is common knowledge.
34:00But the powers of the earth are often hidden.
34:03And despite the combined effort of geological scientists the world over,
34:07accurately predicting when and where an earthquake will strike is beyond us.
34:12Dr Lin believes the enormous weight of 101 may have reawakened Taipei's dormant fault lines,
34:18increasing the threat of earthquakes not just to the building itself but to the entire city.
34:24Although Dr Lin cautiously states that this theory is not yet scientifically proven,
34:29the circumstantial evidence seems compelling.
34:33Bigger earthquakes and more often since the construction of Taipei 101 began.
34:39But foundation engineer Dunstan Chen explains why he believes this hypothesis is fatally flawed.
34:46That's actually at the beginning.
34:48For every high-rise building I build in Taiwan,
34:52we consider the weight of the structure should be more or less equivalent to the soil
35:01you excavate in.
35:05The net change in pressure on the earth as a result of 101 is nil.
35:10700,000 tonnes of construction has gone up,
35:13but 700,000 tonnes of earth was dug out to build it.
35:19The unpredictability of seismic activity means that either way we may never know for sure.
35:26And regardless of what causes the frequent earthquakes in Taipei,
35:30this man-made marvel is being built to withstand them.
35:39On the construction site of any super-tall building,
35:42the difficulty of getting materials up to the action is one of the greatest logistical challenges.
35:48The primary tool for this on 101 is a series of six self-erecting construction cranes.
35:54The biggest, strongest and most advanced on the planet,
35:57these cranes are able to shift thousands of tonnes straight up in a single day.
36:02But their most ingenious feature,
36:04and the one most crucial to the construction of a mega skyscraper,
36:08is their ability to self-erect, to grow with the building around them.
36:13To do this, powerful hydraulic ramps lift the entire top mechanism of the crane.
36:21A new tower section is then placed in the gap,
36:24cross-members secured, and progress resumes as normal with almost no interruption to workflow.
36:38Although concrete is one of the oldest and most widely used construction materials,
36:43it's incredibly heavy and, like a liquid time bomb, has to be pumped into position before it sets.
36:49These two factors pose a major challenge for construction workers on 101.
36:54The concrete they use here doesn't just have to get from the plant to the building,
36:58it has to get up the building as well.
37:08To do this, engineers develop concrete with specific levels of viscosity or runniness,
37:13and specific drying times.
37:15This buys them valuable time and helps the powerful concrete pumps to work more efficiently.
37:21The result is yet another world record for 101.
37:25Concrete is pumped from ground level to 450 metres.
37:29That's higher than any other concrete pour in history.
37:36Construction reaches the 92nd floor in July 2003.
37:41Although nearing completion, the technological crown jewel of 101 is yet to be put in place.
37:47The tuned mass damper, the crucial windproofing mechanism
37:51designed to counteract the horizontal sway of 101's massive bulk.
37:56Although mass dampers have been used in skyscrapers before,
37:59they've never been this shape, they've never been this big,
38:03and at 380 metres, they've never been this high up.
38:08To be effective, the damper needs to be one tenth of one percent of Taipei 101's total mass,
38:14a staggering 660 tonnes.
38:20Not even the awesome Taipei 101 cranes can lift something this huge and heavy.
38:26The ball arrives in prefabricated sections, which are then welded together on site.
38:31It's then hung from 16 10 centimetre thick cables and tuned
38:36to make it swing in exactly the opposite direction to the building.
38:40When the building moves by the wind, it will go against it and balance it out real quickly,
38:45very much like the shock absorber of a car.
38:49And I think this idea has not been used in any other building that I know,
38:55so I think we're the first ones to try that.
39:00In principle, it works like a simple counterbalance.
39:03But in reality, things are a little more complicated and a lot more clever.
39:08To stop the damper from rocking either excessively or out of sync with the building,
39:13the ball is attached to a series of hydraulic dashpots,
39:16like mega shock absorbers, that stifle the ball's movement.
39:20If the damper experiences a particularly sudden jolt, such as an earthquake,
39:25the hydraulic resistance in the dashpots is strong enough to create a lockdown effect,
39:30meaning that the big golden ball in the sky will stay exactly where it is.
39:49If the mass damper is the technological crown jewel of 101,
39:53then the 60-metre pinnacle at the very peak of the building is the aesthetic equivalent.
40:00By late 2004, all major structural work has been finished on the main body of 101.
40:07Although this marks the successful completion of one of the most remarkable construction endeavours ever attempted,
40:13101 is still four metres short of being the tallest building in the world.
40:20Successfully raising the pinnacle will assure them the title,
40:24but at 400 tonnes, it will also be a logistical nightmare.
40:29Nothing this heavy has ever been lifted in this way, at this height.
40:36It's not just difficult, it's dangerous.
40:41A system of hydraulic jacks and geared cables lifts the massive structure from its base.
40:49Progress is painfully slow, but victory is the only option.
41:02Finally, our team is ready to go.
41:10After 14 days, the pinnacle is secured.
41:17Against all odds, and against nature, the tallest building in the world is complete.
41:25Yet although this marks the end of one phase of the building's life, it is the beginning of another.
41:35Today, some of the world's biggest corporations boast offices here,
41:39and in peak periods, up to 40,000 people come in and out of the building every day.
41:47It's like a city unto itself, only vertical.
41:51For a lot of people, until you see it, you don't believe it, nor do you understand it.
41:56Many of the everyday functions we take for granted are complicated exponentially by the addition of height,
42:02making the operations of this mega skyscraper a mega challenge.
42:10Every minute detail of the building is monitored and accessed in here, the central control room.
42:17From the speed of every fan on every air conditioning duct, to each of the 96 elevators,
42:24operations manager Jeff Hsu and his staff can see and control it all.
42:30The security section monitors the focus, angle and zoom of each of 101's 520 surveillance cameras.
42:38The locks on even the most obscure doors are hardwired into the vast central brain of the security system.
42:46Staff continuously monitor the use and supply of electricity, the flow of water, the fire hoses in the mall,
42:52even the level of seismic activity.
43:05The security system is a complex, complex system.
43:09Every visitor is photographed and checked twice, without them even realising.
43:40101 sucks in the equivalent energy as 6,000 regular homes.
43:45It's dependent on two designated city substations and has backup generators in case of failure.
43:52There's enough electrical cabling in 101 to stretch from Taipei to New York and back again.
44:10In case of fire, the equivalent of two Olympic-sized swimming pools of water
44:15is stored within the building to fuel the vast array of sprinkler systems.
44:23Stairways and corridors leading to the mechanical floor safety zones are pressurised to reduce smoke levels
44:29and are equipped with personal emergency kits, closed-circuit TV
44:34and, perhaps most importantly, access to the outside world.
44:46On a building of this height, matters as simple as flushing a toilet pose serious challenges.
44:52One litre of water falling from the top floor of 101 will have the same impact as a house brick travelling at 65 kilometres per hour.
45:05Sewerage tanks on every mechanical floor contain, process and transfer grey water safely to the ground.
45:14The elevators are the fastest in the world.
45:17Travelling at 60 kilometres per hour, they go from level 5 to level 89 in only 37 seconds.
45:24Each carriage is pressurised to avoid ear damage, streamlined to minimise noise
45:30and electronically balanced to ensure a ride so smooth that even a coin won't topple on the incredible journey.
45:50To clean each of 101's 17,000 windows, custom-built gondolas dangle workers off the edge of the building.
45:57They can only work when the wind is under 10 metres per second
46:01and even then the cables have to be hooked into the walls to stop the gondola blowing off track.
46:07The awkward angle of 101 means that an elaborate counterweight system has to be used
46:13so that workers can get close enough to the walls to work.
46:17To clean the entire building takes four teams of two workers three months.
46:22The job is so big that as soon as it's finished, it's time to start again.
46:33Inside and out, Type A101 pushes the boundaries.
46:37A unique looking building that has changed the face of construction, design and engineering forever.
46:46The tallest building in the world in one of the most hazard-prone places on the planet.
46:52Defying the powers of earth and wind to go where no building has gone before.
46:59It's really a very, very important building. It is a landmark, a benchmark.
47:06Long after its mantle of world's tallest has gone, its achievement will remain.
47:12A symbol for the future of a proud island.
47:17A skyscraper that took on nature and won.
47:22A building that will never be forgotten.
47:25A building that will never be forgotten.
47:28A building that will never be forgotten.
47:31A building that will never be forgotten.
47:34A building that will never be forgotten.
47:37A building that will never be forgotten.
47:40A building that will never be forgotten.
47:43A building that will never be forgotten.
47:46A building that will never be forgotten.
47:49NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology