Japan has recently built what is now being said is the largest tower in the world – the Tokyo Sky Tree. It was built with the main purposes of a television and radio broadcasting mast. The tower is over 2000 feet tall and has been being built for almost four years. The building is said to be built in ways allowing to withstand an 8.0 magnitude earthquake and should open in May of 2012. It is said that not even 50 percent of the tower is usable floor space. Other than the technical reasons that the tower was built for, it is not an strayed thought to assume that it was also built to assist in tourism after dropping so much due to different natural disasters. The tower contains two places in which observations may be made by visitors, both over 1000 feet high in the air. There is also a “sky walkway” that is a glass covered walkway in which people can walk and see a full view of the entire city. Although questioned on its durability during earthquakes, engineering expert Andrew Charleson, agrees with the builders of the tower making note that the technique that was used (vibration control system with a central spine of reinforced concrete pillars) should be very beneficial and work during the natural disaster.
To start off, the pictures of the tower seem unreal. One of my first thoughts was the Twin Towers that used to stand tall and proud in New York City. The towers stand high above all the rest and make quite a large statement. I think that the tower will be very beneficial to the country in terms of tourists. With different visitor activities and viewings up in the tower, I think a lot of money could be raised and they could bring themselves more into the public eye. With the economy in the way that it is, I guess that drastic calls are sometimes made in order to make money and help the people of the area. I think that Japan definitely did this. Along with this however, I would be very interested to see how much such a tower would cost. I am honestly not aware of Japan’s financial standings, but I would assume that such a piece of architecture would lead to a large amount of money. It also brought along thoughts of terrorists. This went along I guess with my thoughts of the Twin Towers. Although it is quite different than the towers as in multitudes of people wouldn’t be inside working and such, I’m sure it will contain hundreds or so people at a time and could probably cause a large amount of damage if anything (terror or not) occurred to the building. Something I found interesting was how sure the people seem to be with its withstanding of an earthquake. No one seems to really be worried as to whether or not their infrastructure will really be successful. If it can indeed stand an earthquake with a magnitude of an 8.0, then Japan could definitely lead to helping surround countries with the same problems and teach them how to build buildings of such strength. It could also possibly lead to stronger builders being build in general and with similar structures.
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/travelnews/2011/11/111128-worlds-tallest-tower-tokyo-travel/
