(Published in the March 2004 issue)

More: Learn how to survive a plummeting elevator.

We live in a vertical world. Despite suburban sprawl, most of Earth's population is packed into cities that have nowhere to go but up. With skyscrapers climbing to ever-greater altitudes, the challenge is not only how to scale these heights, but how to do so safely, comfortably and conveniently.

The elevator system installed in Taiwan's new Taipei 101 tower--the world's tallest building--pushes the limits of people-mover technology. To get from basement to flagpole much faster than what this building affords, warns one expert, would require the sort of training fighter pilots have to undergo.

No one is quite sure who came up with the idea for the elevator--or when. In 1823, something resembling the modern elevator made its debut in London. This "ascending room" took 20 paying guests to the top of a 130-ft. tower for a spectacular view of the city.

Along Came Otis

Until Elisha Graves Otis came along, most folks were wisely wary of elevators, for if there were a loss of power or a cable broke, they'd experience a rather rapid and unplanned descent. Though it wasn't entirely foolproof, Otis's first safety elevator touched off an era of rapid technical one-upmanship, and a change in the American skyline.

There's no question the modern skyscraper owes its existence to the development of steel. But try to imagine an Empire State Building without its lift. Yet, today's ever-taller towers require extreme solutions. The newly completed Taipei 101 is a case in point. The 1667-ft., 101-story building has 67 elevator units, including two that service the 89th-floor observation deck and qualify as the world's fastest. These rocket skyward at a peak speed of 3314 ft. per minute (fpm), more than 800 fpm faster than the previous record holder in Japan's Yokohama Landmark Tower. By comparison, an airline pilot normally maintains a climb, or descent rate, of no more than 1000 fpm.

The system took a 5-man team from Lerch, Bates & Associates 18 months to develop, while Toshiba/G.F.C. Elevator spent more than a year building the hardware and another four years putting it into place. The project was among the most challenging Lerch, Bates ever faced, according to Jim W. Fortune, president of the Boulder-based consulting group, which specializes in vertical transportation design. The two high-speed cars, he notes, "had to be designed and specified to overcome extreme travel distances and main guide-rail alignments, aural discomfort, snag guards and noise abatement problems."

As with most modern skyscrapers, Taipei 101 is divided into three zones, each serviced by a phalanx of local elevators.

Race To The Top

State-of-the-lifting-art permanent magnet synchronous motors power the tower's system, and are smaller and produce more torque than conventional motors. High-strength steel hoist ropes with solid steel cores were developed to limit stretching and improve wear. Because braking temperatures would melt bronze safety shoes, designers specified ceramic shoes.

Surprisingly, achieving the height and speed required for Taipei 101 was the easy part. The real challenge was the human factor. To hold down noise--for those in the building, as well as in the elevators--the observation-deck shuttles are shaped like twin-nosed bullets, reducing aerodynamic drag, what is known in the trade as windage. They're equipped with sound-isolation shrouds, acoustic tiles and isolated floor platforms. Even the counterweights are aerodynamic.

With a cabin noise level of just 45 dBA, the Taipei 101 elevators are quieter than most automobiles would be at that speed, but as anyone who's flown a few times can tell you, it's the change in altitude that plays havoc with the human ear. The middle ear is a bit like a balloon, and if you can't adjust pressure by yawning or swallowing, the results are unpleasant at the least. The trade publication Elevator World reports the 1346-ft. express elevators to the observation deck at Chicago's Sears Tower had to be slowed down after a visitor's eardrum ruptured.

The biggest challenge is on descent, when air pressure rises. So, twin air-pressure/exhaust control systems have been mounted atop each of Taipei 101's high-speed elevators. They begin preconditioning the car's air pressure as soon as the doors close, then continue working as the car starts to accelerate.

More elevating challenges are on the horizon, including a mile-high skyscraper like the one Frank Lloyd Wright proposed for Chicago. If any of these rise from the drawing board, Taipei 101 could prove little more than a training exercise.

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