Survey reveals world’s speediest and highest lifts

Building information database provider Emporis has unveiled what it believes to be the world’s speediest lifts in a new survey. The company found that the fastest in the world were those in the Taipei 101 tower (above) manufactured by Toshiba. A Mitsubishi lift in Japan’s Yokahama Landmark Tower was named as the second-fastest, while the Otis manufactured lifts in Dubai’s 828m-high Burj Khalifa share third place with three other buildings. The results are inevitably clustered given the limitations of the human body to withstand rapid ascents and descents.

Of course no self-respecting building in Dubai would be complete without boasting some sort of record so the the Burj Khalifa has the consolation of of being home to the world’s fastest double-decker elevators, with added distinction of offering the chance to take the longest trip currently possible in a lift –  a ride of 504 metres up to the world’s highest elevator lobby at 638m.

The full list is as follows:

1. Taipei 101, Taiwan | Elevators by Toshiba

With a building height of 509m, passengers are catapulted at a speed of 1,010 metres per minute, or 60/6 km/h, from the fifth to the 89th floor of Taipei 101. The ride asts a mere 37 seconds, at the end of which passengers step out already 382 metres above the ground at the observation floor of Taiwan’s tallest building. Two of the 61 elevators in the building reach the top speed of 1010 m/min, and each cost more than $US 2 million.

2. Yokohama Landmark Tower, Japan | Elevators by Mitsubishi
Located in the 296m-high Yokohama Landmark Tower, in Japan, this Mitsubishi elevator manages a speed of 750 metres per minute, or 45km/h. With a total of 79 elevators, the building has the fastest elevator in Japan. It only takes 40 seconds to travel from the second to the 69th floor.

3. Burj Khalifa, UAE | Elevators by Otis
The world’s tallest building, Burj Khalifa, occupies third place in the list, with a maximum elevator speed of 36 km/h, or 600m/min. The engineers working on the design first thought about installing triple-decker elevators, which would have been the first in the world. The double-decker elevators that have instead been installed have a capacity of 12 to 14 persons per cabin.

3. Sunshine 60 Building, Japan | Elevators by Mitsubishi
The 240m building comprises a total of 40 elevators. One of them takes visitors with a top speed of 36 km/h from the lobby to the observation deck on the 60th floor. When the weather is fine, visitors to the observation deck can see as far as 100 km.

3. Shanghai World Financial Centre, China | Elevators by ThyssenKrupp
The 492m Shanghai tower has four double-decker elevators in the building used to reach the sky lobby at 240m. These elevators’ cabins have a capacity of 2,000 kg each, and go at a speed of 36km/h.

3. China World Trade Centre Tower III, China | Elevators by Schindler
Situated in Beijing, the 330m skyscraper has four high-speed elevators, which travel directly to the hotel lobby located on the 72nd floor. These elevators reach their full velocity of 600 m/min in eleven seconds.

4. John Hancock Centre, USA | Elevators by Otis
The 344m building contains America’s fastest elevators at 33km/h or 549m/min, travelling to the building’s Observatory on the 94th floor, which gives visitors spectacular views of Chicago. Instead of taking the elevator, visitors can also take the stairway from the main lobby to the Observatory. It has a total of 1,632 steps.

5. Jin Mao Tower, China | Elevators by Mitsubishi
With a total of 130 operating elevators, the 421m-building in Shanghai has two express elevators in the basement which reach the observation deck on the 88th floor in
only 45 seconds at 32.8km/h or 546m/min. The observation deck has a built-up area of 1,520 m².