The Torre Mayor (literally "Major Tower") is a

skyscraper A skyscraper is a tall continuously habitable building having multiple floors. Modern sources currently define skyscrapers as being at least or in height, though there is no universally accepted definition. Skyscrapers are very tall high-ris ...

Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital and largest city of Mexico, and the most populous city in North America. One of the world's alpha cities, it is located in the Valley o ...

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

. With a height of 225 meters (738 feet) to the top floor and 55 stories, it is the third tallest building in Mexico. It was surpassed in height by

Torre BBVA Bancomer ''Torre'' (plurals ''torri'' and ''torres'') means ''tower'' in seven Romance languages (Portuguese, Spanish, Galician, Catalan, Italian, Occitan and Corsican) and may refer to: Biology * Muir-Torre syndrome, the inherited cancer syndrome * ' ...

in 2015, which in turn was surpassed by

Torre Reforma The Torre Reforma is a skyscraper in Mexico City with a height of to the roof and housing 57 stories, in 2016 it became the tallest skyscraper in Mexico City, exceeding both Torre BBVA Bancomer at located just across the street, and Torre May ...

. From its completion in 2003 until 2010 (when it was surpassed by the residential 236 meter (774 ft) high

Ocean Two Ocean Two (sometimes called O2) is a residential skyscraper in the Costa del Este district of Panama City, Panama. Construction of the 73-story, building began in 2006 and was completed in 2010. At the time of its completion, it became the tal ...

Panama City, Panama Panama City ( es, Ciudad de Panamá, links=no; ), also known as Panama (or Panamá in Spanish), is the capital and largest city of Panama. It has an urban population of 880,691, with over 1.5 million in its metropolitan area. The city is locat ...

) it was also the tallest building in

Latin America Latin America or * french: Amérique Latine, link=no * ht, Amerik Latin, link=no * pt, América Latina, link=no, name=a, sometimes referred to as LatAm is a large cultural region in the Americas where Romance languages — languages derived f ...

. The Torre Mayor was developed by Canadian businessman

Paul Reichmann Paul (Moshe Yosef) Reichmann ( he, משה יוסף רייכמן‎; 27 September 1930 – 25 October 2013) was a Canadian businessman and member of the Reichmann family. He is best known for his leadership of the Olympia & York real estate ...

, who also maintained part ownership until his death in 2013. It is also part-owned by a group of institutional investors. The building was designed by the architectural firms of

Zeidler Partnership Architects Zeidler Architecture is an international architecture, interior design, urban design, and master planning firm with four Canadian offices located in Toronto, Calgary, Vancouver, and Victoria. In addition, the firm has locations in Beijing (China) ...

and

Executive Architects Adamson Associates Architects Executive ( exe., exec., execu.) may refer to: Role or title * Executive, a senior management role in an organization ** Chief executive officer (CEO), one of the highest-ranking corporate officers (executives) or administrators ** Executive dir ...

, both of Toronto. The structural engineers and designers were The Cantor Seinuk Group from

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

in association with Enrique Martínez Romero S.A. in Mexico City (Engineering News-Record, 30 June 2003). Located at

Paseo de la Reforma Paseo de la Reforma (translated as "Promenade of the Reform") is a wide avenue that runs diagonally across the heart of Mexico City. It was designed at the behest of Emperor Maximilian by Ferdinand von Rosenzweig during the era of the Secon ...

, it was built by Canadian-owned Reichmann International on the former location of the Cine Chapultepec. Construction work began in 1999 and was finished in late 2003. Due to

's high propensity to

earthquake An earthquake (also known as a quake, tremor or temblor) is the shaking of the surface of the Earth resulting from a sudden release of energy in the Earth's lithosphere that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can range in intensity, from ...

s, the tower incorporates several anti-earthquake measures. Torre Mayor is one of the strongest buildings on Earth in terms of earthquake resistance, being designed to withstand earthquakes measuring 8.5 on the Richter Scale. The

U.S. Bank Tower U.S. Bank Tower, known locally as the Library Tower and formerly as the First Interstate Bank World Center, is a skyscraper in downtown Los Angeles, California. It is, by structural height, the third-tallest building in California, the seco ...

in earthquake prone

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

by comparison, is designed to withstand an 8.3 intensity earthquake.

Earthquake resistance

The Torre Mayor stands in the lakebed area where most of the 1985 earthquake damage occurred, It was built with 96 dampers, which work like car

shock absorber A shock absorber or damper is a mechanical or hydraulic device designed to absorb and damp shock impulses. It does this by converting the kinetic energy of the shock into another form of energy (typically heat) which is then dissipated. Most sh ...

s to block the resonating effect of the lakebed and its own height. These diamond-shaped dampers are seen architecturally on its perimeter. With this extra bracing, this tower can withstand earthquake forces nearly four times as efficiently as a conventionally damped building. The dampening system proved its worth in January 2003, as a 7.6 earthquake shook the city. Not only did the building survive undamaged, occupants inside at the time did not know a tremor had occurred.

Important details

*The tower has 30,000 m² of glass on the south facade with thermal and acoustic insulation, plus finished marble inside and granite in common areas and hallways. The architecture of the building is contemporary and international quality. It also has three electric power supplies in average voltage, and it is noteworthy that it is the only building in Latin America that feeds energy from three different points of the city. *It has 29 passenger elevators, which can reach a top speed of 6.7 m/s. *It is occupied by more than 8,000 people. *It was built at an average of 4 floors per week, and no workers died during its construction. *Has record for being the only skyscraper in the world that has not had any major accidents or deaths during construction. *Received

LEED Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) is a green building certification program used worldwide. Developed by the non-profit U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), it includes a set of rating systems for the design, construction ...

certification in 2013. *It uses solar energy.

Intelligent building

Torre Mayor's elevators have a seismic detector that detects any movement of earth and therefore automatically stops the elevator nearest to allow passengers to get off. The Torre Mayor is administered by the Building Management System (BMS), an intelligent system that controls all facilities and equipment harmoniously and efficiently to protect human life from danger. The integrated system has the ability to control elevators, fire protection and lighting in the building and it is considered an intelligent building like that of many other buildings in Mexico City. The floors' underground injection machines have fans and fresh air exchange to prevent excessive concentration of pollutants entering the building, which is also linked to the intelligent building system. It was the first building in Mexico that met the now mandatory standard for energy efficiency of nonresidential buildings (NOM-008) and it has an automatic water saver, which is one of the first to be used in Mexico City, making it a green building.

Systems

The Torre Mayor has the following systems: *System generation and distribution of energy saving ice water *System variable air volume (air units and preparations of high-speed pipeline at every level of office) *General health extraction system in each office level *System automatic air ventilation in parking *Mechanical extraction system garbage room *Air conditioning system automatic mini-split type for control room, administration, sales and boardroom

References

External links