EUREKA TOWER


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EUREKA TOWER
297 metres/975 feet
91 stories
Completed: 2006
When completed it was the 34th tallest building in the world;

Some Eureka Tower facts & figures:

- Eureka Tower is the tallest building of Melbourne, Australia;
it can be found in the Southbank precinct of the city;
- designed by Fender Katsalidis Architects; and built by Grocon (Grollo Australia);
- the story behind the name of the tower:
the name has a special significance in Australia due to the discovery of gold,
which has played a significant role in Melbourne's history.
Eureka means 'I've Found It' in Greek and the expression ‘Eureka, Eureka’
was shouted by Greek mathematician Archimedes (287-221 BC)
after he had just discovered the theory of displacement of liquids.
Legend has it that Archimedes used his theory to measure the purity of the gold in the King's crown.
These golden connections have been incorporated in both the name of the building
and the 'golden' pinnacle of the tower which cover the top 10 floors.
This summit is clad in glass that has a surface of real (24 carat) gold;
- building costs were approximately US$ 410 million (372 million euro);
- 2nd tallest residential building in the world when completed; in 2006, only Gold Coast City’s Q1 was taller,
but that was because of its spire on top. Floor wise, or height from ground level to roof top wise,
Eureka Tower was the tallest residential Tower in the world when completed;
- at the beginning of 2006, the developer of Eureka Tower proposed adding an almost 54m/180f tall communication mast/observation tower
on top of the 297m/975f building; in April of 2006, a new proposal was announced: a skywalk of over 50 m/164f
that would lift the height to over 350m/1150f;
- in May of 2007 the observatory on the 88th floor, 285/935f above the ground, was opened.
The observatory is the highest observatory in the Southern Hemisphere; an extra attraction on this skydeck is 'The Edge',
a glass cube which projects 3 metres out from the building - with people in it - suspended some 280 metres above the ground;
- the horizontal white lines on Eureka Tower represent the centimetres and millimetres of a ruler;
- the tower has 13 elevators; two of which will service the observation deck.
They are among the fastest in Australia, reaching the observatory, travelling at 9 m/s; 540 m/m;
- to reach the top by staircase, you will have to go up 3,650 stairs;
- the building has 556 apartments. The top ones are the second highest in the world,
with the penthouse at level 87 (278,5m/913f) as the highest. Only the John Hancock Center in Chicago has higher apartments;
- between ground level and floor 11 there are offices, restaurants, retail, a health and fitness centre, a swimming pool, and a residents' car park (800 cars).
Floors 11 tot 80 will contain the 556 apartments. The apartment levels are divided in three sections:
floors 11 to 24 will be 'River rise'; floors 25 to 52 will be 'Premier rise'; while Floors 53 to 80 will be 'Sky rise';
The top nine floors of the complex, known as 'Summit complex', will have the observatory, the 84th floor penthouse,
restaurants, a function centre, and a nightclub on level 89. Two floors are in use as service and plant floors;
- the top of the Tower can flex up to 600mm in high winds. Two 300,000 litre water tanks on levels 90 & 91 help to dampen the oscillations;
- construction began in August of 2002;
- the building was officially opened October 11, 2006;
- the building weighs 200,000 tonnes;



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