Kobe Port Tower
The Kobe Port Tower (Japanese神戸 ポート タワーKobe Poto Tawa ), also harbor tower Kobe is the 108 meter high landmark of the Japanese city Kobe. The completion of the tower in Hyperboloidkonstruktion took place on 21 November 1963. Observation deck in 90.28 meters height allows a wide view over the bay of Kobe and Osaka. Besides acting as a lookout, it serves mainly the port operations.
History
The proposal for the construction of an observation tower is an idea of the seventh mayor of Kobe, Haraguchi Chujiro back. This was during his trip to Europe in 1959 very impressed with the euro mast in Rotterdam. The actual construction of the port tower in Kobe began in August 1962. Initially, there were major problems with water ingress into the pit, but the further course of the construction work went smoothly. Four years later, the tower was based on designs by Nikken Sekkei Ltd.. completed and was opened on 21 November 1963. For his remarkable style, such as the tower has received several awards and prizes for architecture, 15 Award from the Japan Institute of Architects.
The shape of the tower is the Tsuzumi, modeled after a traditional Japanese drum-like musical instrument. Originally, the tower should be painted silver, but this is prohibited by the Civil Aviation Act. The current color scheme, in the form of a red exterior and a white core, represents a clear contrast to the green of the mountains and the deep blue color of the sea
During the great earthquake of Kobe in 1995 destroyed over one hundred thousand buildings were damaged or to a large extent, the Kobe Port Tower survived the earthquake without major damage. Less than a month after the earthquake, on February 14, the Tower was lit already back in red and white in the night sky. For many citizens of Kobe was light as a symbol of hope for the reconstruction of the destroyed city.
Between December 2009 and 28 April 2010, a renovation of the Kobe Port Tower took place. The tower is lit up every night by 7000 LED's color.
Location
The Kobe Port Tower is located in Meriken Park, in the harbor near the city center of the city of Kobe on Naka Pier. Due to its size, shape and color, it is one of the most distinctive buildings in the skyline of Kobe. Right next to the harbor tower is the Kobe Maritime Museum, with its unusual roof structure, as well as the Great Hanshin Awaji Earthquake Memorial, a monument in memory of the great earthquake of 1995.
Design and construction
The Hyperboloidkonstruktion used for the construction of the Kobe Port Tower of straight connecting elements goes back to the Russian engineer, scientist and architect Vladimir Shukhov who in 1896 began construction this way in Russia for the construction of water towers, lighthouses and pylons.
Consisting of red steel pipes external construction of the Kobe Port Tower provides the horizontal and vertical stiffness of the structure and carrying the five floors of the tower top. It consists of a total of 32 inclined, intersecting tubes which are secured by a number of horizontal rings against buckling. The value held in white inner core of gracefully built steel latticework is used, however, only the transport but has no load-bearing function.
The lower platform of the tower consists of three floors, in which box office, restaurant, shop and cafeteria housed. The middle part of the tower is used to transport and contains staircases and lifts. The top two floors 4 and 5 of the tower top are designed as a viewing platform on all sides and equipped with large panoramic windows. On the 4th floor there are also souvenir shops. The Tea Room " Sky Lounge " is located in the 3rd floor of the tower top. The bottom of this floor is designed as a rotating platform. It rotates together with the inventory once in 20 minutes, allowing a 360 ° all-round visibility. The bottom floor of the tower top is around 75 meters high. In two places the tour tempered glass panels embedded in the floor, allowing a direct view straight down.
View of Tower and Museum at night