Baiyoke Tower II

Baiyoke Tower II
General information
Status	Complete
Type	Hotel
Location	222 Ratchaprarop Road, Ratchathewi Bangkok, Thailand
Coordinates
Construction started	1990
Completed	1997
Cost	฿3.6 billion
Owner	Land Development Co. Ltd.
Height
Architectural	304 m (997 ft)
Tip	328.4 m (1,077 ft)
Technical details
Floor count	85
Floor area	179,400 m2 (1,931,000 sq ft)
Design and construction
Architect	Plan Architects
Developer	Land Development Corporation
Structural engineer	Arun Chaiseri Group
Main contractor	Concrete Constructions
Other information
Number of rooms	673
Website
www.baiyokehotel.com
References

Baiyoke Tower II (Thai: ใบหยก 2; rtgs: Bai Yok Song) is an 85-storey, 304 m (997 ft) skyscraper hotel at 222 Ratchaprarop Road in the Ratchathewi district of Bangkok, Thailand. It is the tallest building in the city, 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 328.4 m (1,077 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 309 m (1,014 ft), but the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH), Emporis and SkyscraperPage note it as 304 m (997 ft).

MahaNakhon by Pace Development currently under construction will be 314 m (1,030 ft) tall measured as height without antenna, replacing Baiyoke II as Thailand's tallest building when completed in 2015.

History

Late 1980s Project conceived by Khun Panlert Baiyoke.

Early 1991 Official ground breaking. Foundation works carried out by Multiplex RSY Constructions (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 diametre 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

• 

  The observation platform of the Baiyoke II tower.

• 

  The view north from Bangkok's Baiyoke Tower II with the Victory Monument visible left of centre

• 

  A view east from the observation platform of Bangkok's Bayoke tower showing the new rail link to the airport

• 

  Bangkok skyline from Baiyoke Tower II

• 

  View of the tower and its surroundings

• 

  The Baiyoke Tower II in Bangkok

See also

• List of tallest buildings in Thailand

External links

• Baiyoke Sky Hotel Official Site
• Plan Architect Co.
• Baiyoke Sky Hotel Photos
• Bangkok Highrises
• Big panorama view from Baiyoke Towers