Taipei 101 at Night

I went for an unexpected hike at Elephant Hill. There is a nice viewing area where you can see the city of Taipei. The part of the city nearest Elephant Hill seems to be ultra modern. There were tall buildings and of course the tallest being Taipei 101. The design of Taipei 101 is quite different from typical supertall buildings. The architect incorporated Asian aesthetics in the design of the tower. The main design theme of the tower is that it resembles bamboo. The exterior of the tower is clad in green glass which does give the building the apparance of bamboo.

There are also details which can only be Asian, such a circle with a square hole, which is an old Chinese coin, this is to symbolize prosperity. There are also numerous other auspicious designs incorporated in to the tower. The tower has eight segments of floors. Each of the segments have eight floors each. The number eight is an auspicious number in Chinese culture. There are other symbolisms which are lost to me. It is interesting how they thought about these things though. At night, the tower bursts into color especially the top which is considered the head of the skyscraper.

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