Shanghai Tower damper unveiled

The model sculpture of the damper in the tower which is the first in the world to use an eddy current damper. Gao Erqiang / China Daily

The Shanghai Tower's 1,000-ton damping system, the device that boosts the stability of the country's highest building, was opened to the public on Aug 28.

The Shanghai Tower is the first skyscraper in the world to use the eddy current damping system, which was designed and made by a domestic company.

Qian Feng, a senior engineer at the Shanghai Research Institute of Materials and the chief designer of the damper, said that the device is hung in the air with 12 steel cables and works like an automatic clock pendulum with a sway range of 2 meters in all directions.

"A number of typhoons battered the city in the last two summers after the damping system was installed in early 2015. They have tested the stabilizer and we are sure it meets the requirements we designed it for," said Zhu Dexiang, director of the Shanghai Research Institute of Materials.

The space on the 126th floor also features a 7.7-meter-tall sculpture made of azure stones that stands atop the damper.

"It looks like a giant eye and it signifies our best wishes to Shanghai and its prosperous development," said Gu Jianping, president of Shanghai Tower Construction and Development Co.

The two floors also boast having the world's highest music hall with 240 high-definition speakers that provide the same sound quality wherever the visitor sits, according to Gu. It costs 680 yuan ($103) per person for a guided tour.

The Shanghai Tower was officially opened in April 2017 and has received an average of 11,000 visitors daily.

Only second to the 828-meter Burj Khalifa in Dubai in height, the building houses China's highest restaurant on the 120th floor, the highest hotel lobby on the 101st floor and the highest swimming pool with a view of the cityscape from the 84th floor.

The building also has the world's fastest elevators which can travel at 18 meters per second. Tourists can travel from the ground level to the observation deck on the 119th floor in less than 55 seconds.

The building is the latest addition to the cluster of super skyscrapers in Shanghai's Lujiazui financial area, alongside the 468-meter Oriental Pearl Television Tower, the 421-meter Jin Mao Tower and 492-meter Shanghai World Financial Center.

zhouwenting@chinadaily.com.cn