85 Sky Tower (), formerly known as the T & C Tower or Tuntex Sky Tower, is an 85-story

skyscraper A skyscraper is a tall continuously habitable building having multiple floors. Most modern sources define skyscrapers as being at least or in height, though there is no universally accepted definition, other than being very tall high-rise bui ...

Lingya District Lingya District () is a District (Taiwan), district of Kaohsiung, Taiwan. The 85 Sky Tower and the Kaohsiung City Government, Kaohsiung City Hall are located here. Lingya District is the administrative center of Kaohsiung City along with Fongs ...

Kaohsiung Kaohsiung, officially Kaohsiung City, is a special municipality located in southern Taiwan. It ranges from the coastal urban center to the rural Yushan Range with an area of . Kaohsiung City has a population of approximately 2.73 million p ...

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...

. The structure is

high High may refer to: Science and technology * Height * High (atmospheric), a high-pressure area * High (computability), a quality of a Turing degree, in computability theory * High (tectonics), in geology an area where relative tectonic uplift t ...

. An antenna increases the pinnacle height to . Constructed from 1994 to 1997 by the now-defunct Tuntex Group, it is the tallest building in Kaohsiung, and the 2nd tallest in Taiwan after the

Taipei 101 The Taipei 101 (; stylized in all caps), formerly known as the Taipei World Financial Center, is a 508 m (1,667 ft), 101-story skyscraper in Taipei, Taiwan. It is owned by Taipei Financial Center Corporation. It was Council on Tall Buildings ...

. As of 2023, the building is almost entirely unoccupied except for a few condominiums (some subleased as short-term rentals) and offices from the 12th to 35th floors. Many floors have not been used in decades, and their conditions have become dirty and run-down. When the building first opened, it once housed a department store, indoor amusement park, five-star hotel, observatory, steakhouse and disco, VIP club and spa, and other amenities. The building was designed by C.Y. Lee & Partners and Hellmuth, Obata & Kassabaum, and has an unusual 'prong' design with two separate 39-floor sections, which merge into a single central tower rising to a spire. This unique design leaves a substantial space below the central part of the tower. The design was inspired by the

Chinese character Chinese characters are logographs used to write the Chinese languages and others from regions historically influenced by Chinese culture. Of the four independently invented writing systems accepted by scholars, they represent the only on ...

Gāo (), which means "tall" and is part of the city's Chinese name. John W. Milton was Project Director on behalf of Turner International Inc. (New York), a subsidiary of

Turner Construction The Turner Construction Company is an American construction company with presence in 20 countries. It is a subsidiary of the German company Hochtief. It is the largest domestic contractor in the United States as of 2020, with a revenue of $14.4 ...

. There is no 44th floor in the building due to

tetraphobia Tetraphobia () is the practice of avoiding instances of the digit . It is a superstition most common in East Asian nations and is associated with death. Rationale The Chinese word for "four" (, pinyin: sì, jyutping: sei3) sounds quite simi ...

, so the 43rd floor connects directly to the 45th floor; the 57th floor, a

mechanical floor A mechanical floor, mechanical penthouse, mechanical layer or mechanical level is a story of a high-rise building that is dedicated to mechanical and electronics equipment. "Mechanical" is the most commonly used term, but words such as ''utilit ...

, is numbered 57A. The

pyramid A pyramid () is a structure whose visible surfaces are triangular in broad outline and converge toward the top, making the appearance roughly a pyramid in the geometric sense. The base of a pyramid can be of any polygon shape, such as trian ...

shaped crown is the equivalent of three stories high and is hence marketed as 83–85 to arrive at a round number. There is no elevator access to floors above 80.

Occupancy

Floor 34 and 35 are currently leased by Look Hotel Group (). The 85 Sky Tower Hotel (ceased operations) () occupied floors 37 to 85, and it owned the observation deck. Office space and studio apartments occupy each side of the lower floors.

Atrium

There is an atrium that extends from Level 45's Shimmer Ballroom (as of 2015 the entire floor is dark and unoccupied) to Level 83; it is one of the highest continuous atriums in the world.

Floor directory

*83–85: Mechanical *81: Radio Broadcasting Facility *77–79: Palace VIP Private Club and Spa (ceased operations) *76: Sexy Disco Bar (ceased operations) *75: Teppanyaki restaurant (ceased operations) *74: Observatory (ceased operations) *71–73: unoccupied *46–70: Guest Rooms (ceased operations) *43–45: Meeting Rooms and Ballrooms (no 44th floor) (ceased operations) *38–42: Hotel Facilities (ceased operations) *36–37: Mechanical, Electrical, and Plumbing (M/E/P) *13–35: Offices and Residential condominiums (School of Banking and Finance, NSYSU) *12: Nikko Plaza (

sky lobby A sky lobby is an intermediate interchange floor in a skyscraper where people can change from an express elevator that stops only at the sky lobby to a local elevator that stops at a subset of higher floors. Early uses of the sky lobby include ...

for offices and condominiums) *8–11: Chien-Tai Indoor Amusement Park (ceased operations) *B1, 2–7: Chien-Tai Daimaru Department Store (ceased operations) *1: Lobby *B5–B3: Parking garage

Transportation

The building is accessible within five blocks' walking distance west of Sanduo Shopping District Station of the

Kaohsiung MRT Kaohsiung Metro () is a rapid transit and light rail system covering the metropolitan area of Kaohsiung, Taiwan. Its rapid transit network is known as Kaohsiung Mass Rapid Transit System or Kaohsiung Rapid Transit (KRT). Construction of the MRT ...

, and within two blocks' walking distance east of the Kaohsiung Exhibition Center light rail station.

Gallery

File:Kaohsiung Skyline 2020.jpg, 85 Sky Tower viewed at night File:Asian Pacific Finacial Plaza and Tuntex Sky Tower 20130723.jpg, 85 Sky Tower dominating

's skyline File:Tuntex Sky Tower night.JPG, 85 Sky Tower illuminated at night File:Kaohsiung Tuntex Sky Tower Blick von der Aussichtsplattform 19.jpg, View of Kaohsiung's streets from 85 Sky Tower's observation deck File:85大樓.JPG, 85 Sky Tower viewed from below File:Kaohsiung Tuntex Sky Tower 21.jpg, 85 Sky Tower viewed from below File:Kaohsiung Tuntex Sky Tower Innen Aussichtsplattform.jpg, 85 Sky Tower Observation Deck (ceased operations) File:Kaohsiung sunset.jpg, 85 Sky Tower at sunset

References

External links

Tuntex Sky Tower
on

CTBUH The Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH) is an international body in the field of tall buildings, including skyscrapers, and sustainable urban design. A non-profit organization based at the Monroe Building in Chicago, Illinois, U ...

Skyscraper Center
Emporis
* * {{Authority control 1997 establishments in Taiwan Buildings and structures completed in 1997 Lingya District Residential skyscrapers in Taiwan Skyscraper office buildings in Kaohsiung Skyscraper hotels in Kaohsiung Office buildings completed in 1997 Asia New Bay Area