On plan the building has the shape of an equilateral triangle, the length of side being 67.32 m. The height above ground level is 256 m. The central core is also triangular with sides of 48.30 m, the distance from the facades to the walls of the core being 13.80 m. The design of the building has been based on a 1.32 m module.
The structural system for this high-rise building is determined essentially by the method of transmitting the wind forces to the foundations. The walls of the triangular core are formed with lattice panels which are shear-connected to each other at the corners and whose columns are rigidly fixed to the foundation structure, thus forming a triangular tube functioning as a vertical cantilever which absorbs and transmits all horizontal forces.
At the top of the building a rigid space frame ‘hat’ connects the core to the 21 external columns which are located 91 cm in front of the facades. The connections between these columns and the space frame are designed to transmit both tension and compression. Thus the top of the building can undergo lateral displacement, but no rotation, so that its deflections are reduced and extreme movements due to temperature variations are also prevented. At every third floor the external columns are joined to one another by horizontal stubs projecting from the facade, which are rigidly connected to them. The beams supporting these floors are connected directly to these stubs. The beams for the intermediate floors, secondary floors, are connected at their outer ends to two-storey high columns which stand, just inside the facades, on the beams for the primary floors. The inner ends of all the floor beams are supported in the core walls.
The external columns and the horizontal stubs in front of the facades are of box-section.
Notes:
displacement n. ñìåùåíèå
equilateral triangle ðàâíîñòîðîííèé òðåóãîëüíèê
rotation n. ïîâîðîò
undergo v. ïîäâåðãàòüñÿ