Taipei 101

Taipei 101 is the tallest completed building in the world and is located in Taiwan. It has been called one of the Seven New Wonders of the World (Newsweek) and one of the Seven Wonders of Engineering (Discovery Channel). This building stands at 1,670.60 feet (509.2 meters) tall and consists of 101 stories aboveground and five stories underground. The number 101 is significant for several reasons. It symbolizes high ideals by going one better than100, which is a traditionally perfect number. 

It also commemorates the renewal of time with the celebration of the century that started (100+1) when the building was made and every New Year that follows (1-01, meaning January first). The number also hints toward the binary numerical system used in digital technology. And finally it is a representation of where the building stands as 101 is the postal code of Taipei’s international business district.

The Taipei 101 tower has 101 stories above ground and five underground. Upon its completion Taipei 101 claimed the official records for:

• Ground to highest architectural structure (spire): 509.2 metres (1,671 ft). Previously held by the Petronas Towers 452 m (1,483 ft).
• Ground to roof: 449.2 m (1,474 ft). Formerly held by the Willis Tower 442 m (1,450 ft).
• Ground to highest occupied floor: 439.2 m (1,441 ft). Formerly held by the Willis Tower 412.4 m (1,353 ft).
• Fastest ascending elevator speed: designed to be 1010 meters per minute, which is 16.83 m/s (55.22 ft/s) (60.6 km/h, 37.7 mi/h). Now it has been succeeded by Burj Khalifa's elevator whose speed of ascending is 18 m/s (64 km/h).
• Largest countdown clock: Displayed on New Year's Eve.
• Tallest sundial.

Taipei 101 was the first building in the world to break the half-kilometer mark in height and the first record-setting skyscraper constructed in the new millennium – 3rd millennium.

The record it claimed for greatest height from ground to pinnacle now rests with the Burj Khalifa in Dubai (UAE): 828 m (2,717 ft). Taipei 101's records for roof height and highest occupied floor briefly passed to the Shanghai World Financial Center in 2009, which in turn yielded these records as well to the Burj.