The Tokyo Sky Tree, the world's tallest self-supported tower, has been completed. The structure is 634 metres high, and now dominates the Sumida ward skyline in northeastern Tokyo.
It beats out the 600m tall Canton Tower in China, and Canada's 553m tall CN Tower. It's also the planet's second tallest building, just behind Dubai's Burj Khalifa which has an enormous 829.84-metre reach.
The 40 billion yen (£307 million) Tokyo Sky Tree took nearly four years to construct. Completion was delayed by two months following a shortage of supplies caused by last year's earthquake and tsunami.
The tower is, it's worth mentioning, designed to withstand quakes. It has a central shaft made of reinforced concrete, which is attached to the outer tower structure 125m above ground. Above that, until 375m, the tower frame is connected to the pillar with shock-absorbing oil dampers.
The tower soars above a commercial district of restaurants, shops and offices. It also has two viewing platforms which will be open to the public on 22 May.
But most importantly, it's a communication tower to relay television and radio broadcast signals. Tokyo's current relay facility, the 333m tall Tokyo Tower, struggles to give complete broadcasting coverage thanks to surrounding buildings. Tokyo Tower was built in 1958.
The main contractor of Tokyo Sky Tree is Obayashi Corp. Maybe it can now focus on its cosmically ambitious project to build a 96,000 kilometre-tall space elevator by 2050 -- only 151,420 times higher than the Sky Tree!
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