The skyscrapers where nobody lives | CNN
Published 1:00 AM EST, Wed November 6, 2024
CNN
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At the eastern edge of Germany’s Black Forest, just outside the medieval town of Rottweil, a peculiar structure — a skyscraper where nobody lives — dominates the land.
It’s called TK Elevator Testturm, and at a height of 807 feet, it’s among the country’s tallest buildings.
However, as the conspicuous absence of windows reveals, this high-rise isn’t filled with empty offices or luxury condos. The tower’s main purpose is hidden in its core: 12 shafts used to test the latest elevator models.
German manufacturer TK Elevator, which has supplied elevators for skyscrapers including New York City’s One World Trade Center, also has test towers in Atlanta — a 420-foot structure located in the Battery, home of the Atlanta Braves baseball team — and Zhongshan, China. At 813 feet, the latter is almost three times taller than the Statue of Liberty.
Elevator test towers can go higher still. For instance, the H1 Tower, built by Japanese conglomerate Hitachi in Guangzhou, China, tops out at 948 feet. It’s one of the tallest buildings in the skyscraper-dense city, and is so big that it would be among the 25 tallest buildings in New York City — and the third tallest in LA.
Elevator test towers are “a bit like a test track for a Formula One team,” said Tomio Pihkala, chief technology officer at Finnish elevator manufacturer Kone, in a phone interview. “The primary and most important reason why test towers exist is that the verification of certain safety functionalities can be only done in a real environment.”