Baiyoke Tower II (Thai: ใบหยภ2; rtgs: Bai Yok Song) is an 88-storey, 309 m (1,014 ft) skyscraper hotel at 222 Ratchaprarop Road in the Ratchathewi District of Bangkok, Thailand. It is the second tallest building in the city after MahaNakhon, and comprises the Baiyoke Sky Hotel, the tallest hotel in Southeast Asia and the seventh-tallest all-hotel structure in the world.
With the antenna included, the building's height is 328.4Â m (1,077Â ft), and features a public observatory on the 77th floor, a bar called "Roof Top Bar & Music Lounge" on the 83rd floor, a 360-degree revolving roof deck on the 84th floor and the hotel offers 673 guest rooms. Construction on the building ended in 1997, with the antenna being added two years later. The Baiyoke Sky Hotel website notes the height without the antenna as 309Â m (1,014Â ft), but the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH), Emporis and SkyscraperPage note it as 304Â m (997Â ft).
History
Late 1980s Project conceived by Panlert Baiyoke.
Early 1991 Official ground breaking. Foundation works carried out by Multiplex RSY Concert and the rest of the year of high quality of structions (Australia). Workers began to install 360 concrete piles (driven to 56m depth) before placing a 5m thick mat over the top.
November 1992 Concrete Constructions (Thailand) Ltd took over the project, work on the superstructure began. The contractor achieved 1.5 floors per month using jump forms and pumped concrete, the construction pace quadruple to 6 floors per month after the first 21 floors were built.
1995 Installation of mechanical and electrical services. Completion of the 19 level parking and retail podium.
August 1996 Concrete pouring ceremony on the tower's 85th floor (tower topped out in early 1997).
June 1999 Official opening of the Baiyoke Sky Hotel
Other Technical Info
•This building contains a total 60,000 cubic metres of cement. Its floor plan is typically 50m square plate with corner columns (one side has open column for external lift). A 30m diameter cylindrical plate begins at the 80th floor.
•Up to 360 piles of concrete were driven through clay into thick sand layer to the depth of over 50m and sealed with a 5m thick mat.
•The building represents one of the most sophisticated uses of concrete in Thailand, with 60N/sq mm (compressive strength) concrete forming the main material for the columns in a lightweight composite structure along with steel box girder reinforcement. The concrete core is surrounded by a square pattern of hollow columns fused together by key studs with an 200mm outer layer of 60N high strength concrete.
•Columns start solid at the base and becoming hollow at the top. •The erection of tower was sped up with the use of VSL Climbform self-climbing, modular system for construction of vertical walls. It is the first time VSL Climbform technology was in use in Thailand.
•Concrete were pumped to a 300m height level using Putzmeister pump (the pump previously set world record in high-rise conveying of concrete to a height of 532 metre during the construction of the Riva del Garda dam in Italy). And from the 300m level the concrete were lifted by a Favelle 310D luffing jib tower crane.
•Baiyoke 2 was the tallest reinforced concrete building in the world at the time of completion in 1997. This record was surpassed by CITIC Plaza building in Guangzhao (China) which was completed a year later.
•Site testing shows the building sway to a cycle of about six seconds. Expert sources suggested that the building may have sunk by 40mm during construction and may have impacted on the foundations of several smaller buildings nearby.
•The estimated cost of the project was put at around 3.4 Billion Baht (costed before the devaluation of the Thai Baht in July 1997).
•Initial plans call for a 140m high communication tower to be placed on top of the building (see rendering of the building's 3D model with the proposed telecom tower on top) although the developer has opted for a smaller radio transmission tower.
•Baiyoke 2 was the world's tallest hotel at the time it was completed - but this was never registered in the Guinness Book of World Records. The JW Marriott Marquis Dubai which completed in 2012 is currently the tallest hotel.
SOURCE: Engineering News Record Magazine (June '96) International Construction Magazine (Nov '94) Civil Engineering International (May '96) Engineers Australia Magazine (Oct '96) VSL News (1994) Bangkok Post Archive
Gallery
See also
- List of tallest buildings in Thailand
References
External links
- Baiyoke Sky Hotel Official Site
- Plan Architect Co.
- Baiyoke Sky Hotel Photos
- Bangkok Highrises
- Big panorama view from Baiyoke Towers
