Some liken it to a giant bamboo shoot of glass and steel. The less charitable see a stack of Chinese food containers.
At 101 floors, Taipei’s newest skyscraper is the world’s tallest, and an ego boost for a people who feel snubbed by the world.
Reaching 1,667 feet into the sky, the Taipei 101 building is nearly 200 feet taller than the previous record-holder, the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. In its base, a seven-story mall is packed with boutiques, gourmet restaurants and a giant screen showing fashion parades. And it hopes to claim another record–for the world’s highest hotel.
How long these records will stand is another question. Taipei 101 is likely to be eclipsed in this decade by a competitor in Manhattan–the 1,776-foot Freedom Tower replacing the World Trade Center that was demolished on Sept. 11, 2001.
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Compiled from news services and edited by Patrick Olsen (polsen@tribune.com) and Drew Sottardi (dsottardi@tribune.com)
