City's tallest building opens its top floors
The 1,000-ton stabilizer is under the sculpture.
Shanghai Tower opened its top space on its 125th and 126th floors to the public on Monday.
They feature a 1,000-ton stabilizing system for the building along with a cutting-edge concert hall.
The domestically made “electric eddy current” damping system is said to be the world’s most advanced such system —ensuring the stability of the skyscraper under strong winds.
To stabilize the 632-meter-tall building, an electric current propels "a giant metal cubic system" to sway to the opposite direction that the wind is blowing. Without such a system, visitors will feel dizzy standing on the higher levels of the skyscraper, according to the management of the building.
"The damping system is designed to help the building to cope with Shanghai's frequent seasonal typhoons in summer," said Zhu Dexiang, director with the Shanghai Research Institute of Materials.
The damping system proved to be effective during last year's Lotus Typhoon, ensuring visitors' safety and making them more comfortable, Zhu said.
The 828-meter-tall Burj Khalifa Tower in Dubai, the world's tallest structure, and the 508-meter Taipei 101 building are using a different kind of "gravity damping system," according to Zhu. The system for Shanghai Tower uses an electric current to make it work more effectively, he told Shanghai Daily.
The newly open floors, on top of the world’s second-tallest building, also feature the world’s highest concert hall which holds its first concert on Monday.
The hall is open at 2pm, 4pm, 6pm and 8pm every day based on reservations. A group of at most 30 people can book to visit the hall and watch how the damping system works. A reservation hotline is available on 021-20656998.
British composer Simon Franglen composed a special work about Shanghai for the hall. Franglen is best known for his work on "Avatar," and for being the producer of "My Heart Will Go On" that featured in the "Titanic" movie.
The hall is equipped with 240 high-definition speakers, which “creates the same sound as the world’s top concert halls,” according to building officials.
