Tokyo Sky Tree Height Increase

[wyliepoon]

The post-CN Tower battle for the tallest tower continues...

*****

http://www.examiner.com/x-16352-Jap...~y2009m10d17-Tokyo-reworks-tallest-tower-plan

Tokyo reworks tallest tower plan
October 17, 8:22 AM Joshua Williams


The international war of height continues as Japan reworks a plan to reach a new world record. Plans for the Tokyo Sky Tree have been changed in the hopes of making it the world’s tallest tower when it is scheduled to be opened in early 2012.

Tobu Railway and Tobu Tower Sky Tree, the tower’s constructors, announced on October 16th that they will extend the top antenna 24 meters (79 feet), to give the tower a new total height of 634 meters (2,080 feet) when it is finished.

Kinya Miyasugi, President of Tobu Tower Sky Tree, told reporters, “We are praying that we will be number one in the world when we are complete.†The change is in response to the Guangzhou TV & Sightseeing Tower in China, which took the title of the world’s tallest tower this year when it was topped out at 610 meters (2,001 feet) – the originally planned height for the Tokyo Sky Tree. Both Towers beat the CN Tower in Toronto, which stands at around 553 meters (1,815 feet). The world’s tallest structure is still said to be the Burj Dubai in the UAE at 818 meters (2,684 feet)

According to a report from the Yomiuri Shimbun, the redesigned antenna will be dubbed “Musashiâ€, a commemoration of the name of the to old region which Tokyo is now a part of. “Musashi†is also a Japanese play on words for the number 6-3-4 and the reason for the numerical choice of the new final height. The change to the Musashi antenna will reportedly not affect the final cost or scheduled completion date of the entire tower.

 

[Tuscani01]

That is one ugly tower compared to Guangzhou and the CN Tower.

 

[khris]

Definitely not a pretty tower!

In Toronto, the CN Tower stands at an unchangeable 553 metres, and watches helplessly as other contenders creep higher and higher.

It seemed to have lost its champion status in January when the 800-metre – and growing – Burj Dubai was recognized by Guinness World Records as the world's "tallest free-standing structure." But Guinness, like a teacher bent on giving awards to everybody, is getting more specific in how it describes the concrete wonder that has stood proud for 35 years.

Guinness yesterday designated the Toronto icon as the world's tallest free-standing tower.

Source

 

[Uncle Teddy]

Sure is an ugly looking tower.

 

[Hypnotoad]

Ugly tower but even uglier base. The tower complex ruins one of the greatest features of Tokyo's sprawling density by plunking down a distruptive mass.

 

[Towered]

Not only is Tokyo content with having a poor man's version of the Eiffel Tower, built decades after the real one, but now they suddenly see a need to throw up a second rate knock-off of the CN Tower as well, also decades after the original was built? You'd expect less cheese and more innovation from the Japanese...

 

[Therion]

Thick and inelegant.

 

[gabe]

Finished!!

TOKYO (AFP) - Construction of the Tokyo Sky Tree, the world's tallest communications tower and second-highest building, finished Wednesday, two months late because of the quake and tsunami that struck Japan last March.

Tourist bosses in the country hope the 634-metre (2080-foot) tower will be a big draw for foreign visitors, whose numbers have plummeted in the aftermath of the disaster and the nuclear crisis it sparked.

"The construction was originally scheduled to finish in December 2011 but was delayed due to a shortage of supplies after the disaster," said a spokeswoman for the operator, adding that the finished structure is sound.

"The building was officially handed over" from contractors to the operating firm, linked with Tobu Railway Co., on Wednesday afternoon, another spokeswoman said.

Construction of the tower, near the popular Asakusa traditional district on Tokyo's eastern side, began in July 2008.

The Tokyo Sky Tree tops the 600-metre Canton Tower in China's Guangzhou and the 553-metre CN Tower in downtown Toronto.

It is the world's second-tallest manmade structure, beaten only by the 828-metre Burj Khalifa in Dubai.

Some 580,000 workers were engaged in the construction, which cost 65 billion yen ($806 million) for the tower alone, the spokeswoman said.

The Tokyo Sky Tree is expected to overshadow landmarks in the capital's upscale western parts, including the 333-metre Tokyo Tower, which was built in 1958 and became a byword in Japan for the country's rapid post-war growth.
It hosts two observation decks -- at 350 metres and 450 metres above ground -- as well as restaurants and office space and sits at a former freight shunting yard along the Sumida river.