Until 2012, the tallest television tower in the world was located in the administrative center of the Chinese province of Guangdong, the city of Guangzhou. However, in 2012, the construction of a new TV tower in Tokyo was completed, which turned out to be twenty-four meters higher than the tower from Guangzhou.
The construction of the Guangzhou TV tower, which was the tallest in the world before the construction of the new tower in Tokyo, was timed to coincide with the 2010 Asian Games. Among the projects submitted for the competition was, in particular, a structure, the surface of which, according to the authors' plan, was covered with solar panels, which were supposed to provide the tower with electricity. The winners of the competition were Dutch architects, according to whose project an openwork structure with a height of six hundred and ten meters appeared in Guangzhou. If you look closely at the photographs of this tower, you will notice that its translucent bearing shell resembles the construction of the famous Shukhov Tower. This is not an accidental coincidence, since when creating the structure of this shell, assembled from metal pipes, the developments of the Russian engineer and architect V. G. Shukhov, combining strength and lightness.
Inside the tower, in addition to equipment for broadcasting television and radio signals, there is a shopping center, an observation deck, an underground parking lot, a cinema and a games room. There are six elevators in the building, thanks to the transparent doors of which visitors can admire the structure of the tower shell during the ascent. A spiral staircase leading around the tower begins from a height of one hundred and eighty meters. At the level of four hundred and thirty meters there is an observation deck, and thirty meters higher there is a kind of Ferris wheel, the closed cabins of which move along the perimeter of the upper part of the building.
In 2012, a tower was completed in Tokyo, overtaking the Guangzhou TV tower. The building with a height of six hundred and thirty-four meters was named "Tokyo Heavenly Tree". The construction of this structure, which has become a new landmark of the city, was caused by necessity: the old Tokyo TV tower, erected back in 1958, was obscured by skyscrapers, which began to affect the operation of the broadcast equipment installed on it. In 2008, construction began on a new tower with a concrete core and a steel and glass shell. As you know, the city of Tokyo is located in an area with a fairly high seismic activity. During the construction of the "Heavenly Tree", a depreciation system was used, partially borrowed from the ancient masters who erected the pagodas. The technology, proven over the centuries, is supposed to save the new Tokyo landmark from earthquakes.
The base of the tower is located where the waters of two rivers merge and in the plan is a regular triangle. The supports that grow from the base are compared in shape to curved samurai swords. The tower has two viewing platforms, one of which is at an altitude of three hundred and fifty meters, and the other is located one hundred meters higher. In addition to digital TV signaling equipment, the building has shops, an oceanarium and a theater.
