I used to think San Francisco’s 297m Sutro Tower was impossibly tall. But it’s just a stub compared to the Sky Tree, Japan’s 634m tall communications centrepiece and the second tallest building on the planet, dwarfed only by the Burj Khalifa.
The Sky Tree is located in Sumida, Tokyo, and cost $US806 million to complete, which includes a two-month delay on account of the devastating earthquake and tsunami. Over half a million workers aided in its construction, which concluded on Wednesday.
The tower includes numerous communications arrays necessary because the current 333m Tokyo Tower is no longer tall enough to bounce video and radio transmissions past the surrounding high-rises. They’ll also help improve digital signal coverage as Japan quit all analogue broadcasting in July of last year. The tower will also include office space, broadcasting facilities — it’s home to seven Japanese broadcasters spearheaded by NHK — dining and shopping areas areas, and observation decks as well. These decks will rise from the tower’s 400m wide base, at heights of 350m and 450m, respectively. They’ll open to the public on May 22, 2012. [Physorg – Geekosystem – Sky Tree Wiki – Tokyo Sky Tree]