Tokyo Sky Tree, the tallest television tower topping out at 634 m was officially opened in Japan on the 22nd of April in 2012. The height of a new built tower is twice the height of Tokyo Tower that was damaged in consequence of the earthquake in spring, 2011.

A name of the tower was chosen by the results of national competition that had been held in April and May, 2008. “Tokyo Sky Tree” seemed more attractive to the Japanese people. And it’s not surprising! The top of the tower is literally touching the sky!

Tokyo Tower with the height of 333 m, unfortunately, doesn’t give complete television broadcasting coverage because it’s surrounded by several high-rise buildings. Thus, nobody wonders why Tokyo Sky Tree that’s located in Sky Town, has become a main commercial center and asset of the country.

The designers created a “skiey” city nearby the tower with an aquarium,  planetarium, 312 shops, a number of restaurants, a market and a theatre. They’ve also planted cherry and red pine trees to make the place more appealing to the public.

The base of the tower has a structure similar to a tripod. The structure was thoroughly thought over by designers so that the tower could have the strength to withstand strong winds and seismic activity. There are observatories at 350 m, with a capacity of up to 2,000 people and 450 m, with a capacity of 450 m, respectively. The design of Tokyo Sky tree was proposed by Nikken Sekkei company in 2006. There is a roof at 450 m, the last metres to the highest point is an aerial. Tokyo Sky Tree Tower has got not only impressive structure but also a great-looking design! The interior part of the tower is painted in traditional color used for facades in Japan — bluish-white color.

The illumination design was published on the 16th of October, in 2009. Blue and purple light electronic diodes follow each other spreading vividly bright spotlights at surrounding entertainment facilities of a “skiey” city on a daily basis. Two illumination patterns “Iki” (stylish, chic) sky blue and “Miyabi” (refinement, elegance) purple are exactly the characteristics one would choose to describe the new Japanese television tower — elegant, posh and stylish!

The name for the tower was chosen by a decision of the general public. The committee has picked six final candidates: Tokyo Sky Tree, Rising tower, Tokyo Edo Tower, Tower of the future, Rising east tower and Dream Lookout so that people could chose a winner. On the 10th of June in 2008 Tokyo Sky Tree was announced as the official name of the television tower.

The height of 634m was chosen with a reason. The combination of numbers 6 (mu), 3 (sa), 4 (shi) stands for the old name of the Japanese region  “Musashi” where Tokyo Sky Tree was built.

A system to control swaying designed by Nikken Sekkei company together with a contractor Obayashi has got a name Shinbashira. Steel-reinforced construction is tailored to designed to give to withstand building sway during an earthquake. The interior of shinbashira construction contains an emergency stairwell if the need arise.

Toshiba Elevator and Building Systems Corp. signed a contract to install 6 high-speed elevators for Tokyo Sky Tree. Four of them have a 2400 kg capacity (40 people) with a maximum speed 600 mpm.  A travel distance of service elevators with a 1800 capacity (27 people) with a speed up to 240 mpm amounts to 464,4 m. In case of emergency, elevators can be switched to 540 mpm.  

Those visitors who’d like to get to the first observatory deck can use the high-speed elevator which will bring them up in approximately 50 s.

Toshiba Elevator and Business systems companies ensured a comfortable ride for all visitors by reducing shaking when the elevator travels up and down. To make it possible, designers kept the difference at the joints of the rails under 0,001 mm. Setting the upper and lower covering at a slight angle helped to reduce wind resistance as well.

All technologies that were used to develop tower lifts are unique and advanced. However, employees of Nikken Sekkei company are sure that shinbashira construction could successfully be applied for building of similar facilities in the future.

Journalists of “Lift Expert” magazine keep track of all innovations in the lift industry. Today we are happy to announce a release of a new unique invention — a lift for cyclists which is used by people from Trondheim in Norway. Landscape of the area has made traveling around administrative center, county Sor-Trondelag, quite a difficult job. Those people who live along the Nidelva river have to struggle to get back home. The transportation system is not functioning well throughout the city, thus many people have to use a cycle. It can be quite an enjoyable trip to cycle down the street to the center, however, to get back home from there one would need to walk up the street wheeling a cycle nearby. Young mothers and disabled people suffer the most. They have to go up and down the street with prams and wheeling chairs to do their everyday shopping.

The problem became really acute so that the government decided to hold a contest between designers. The idea was to create a new kind of transportation means that would facilitate people’s life. Jarle Vanvika was the first one who put this idea in words. Similarly to a majority of people, he lives on a hilly area and uses a cycle. In the end, he got tired of making long tracks on a daily basis and worked out a unique lift. The invention that he presented to the local administration authorities encouraged masses of people.

A new mini-lift was installed in one of the streets that runs up the hill. Its travel distance is 130 m, the speed amounts to 7 km per hour. Actually, it can transport 6 people at one go within a period of one minute. On Sundays, this mini-lift turns into an attraction for children who like to travel by it up and down the street standing on one leg. Each Norwegian has got to pay 13 Euro to cover the expenses for lift maintenance. By the way, the lift for cyclists has got neither cabin, nor buttons. The mechanism is simple and primitive. It’s built out of one rail and a platform. That’s it. Lift system for cyclists was installed by the roadside so that it can’t spoil the view of the city landscape.

Every day thousands of people use this new means of transport. Everything they need to do is to set one foot on the platform. Journalists of “Lift Expert” magazine would like to emphasize on a fact that Norwegian government invested 20 million CZK (1 million and 360 thousands UAH) to have this lift system assembled. They believe that this construction will encourage people to live a healthy life and more frequently use their cycles.