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Sydney Tower (also known as the AMP Tower, AMP Centrepoint Tower, Centrepoint Tower or just Centrepoint) is Sydney
Sydney

Sydney is the List of cities in Australia by population in Australia, with a metropolitan area population of approximately 4.34 million . It is the List of Australian capital cities of New South Wales, and was the site of the first British Empire colony in Australia....
's tallest free-standing structure, and the second tallest in Australia
Australia

Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the southern hemisphere comprising the Australia of the world's smallest continent, the major island of Tasmania, and numerous list of islands of Australia in the Indian Ocean and Pacific Oceans....
 (with the Q1 building
Q1 (building)

Q1 is a supertall skyscraper located in Surfers Paradise, Queensland, on the Gold Coast, Queensland. It is the world's tallest residential tower and the List of tallest buildings in Australia and the Southern Hemisphere....
 on the Gold Coast
Gold Coast, Queensland

The Gold Coast is a city and Local Government Areas of Australia in the South East Queensland corner of Queensland, Australia. It is the second most populous city in the state and the List of cities in Australia by population in the country....
 being the tallest). It is also the third tallest observation tower in the Southern Hemisphere
Southern Hemisphere

The Southern Hemisphere is the half of a planet that is south of the equator?the word sphere literally means 'half ball'. It is also that half of the celestial sphere south of the celestial equator....
 (after Auckland
Auckland

The Auckland metropolitan area or Greater Auckland, in the North Island of New Zealand, is the largest and most populous urban areas of New Zealand with over 1.3 million residents, percent of the country's population....
's Sky Tower
Sky Tower

The Sky Tower is an observation tower and telecommunications tower located on the corner of Victoria and Federal Streets in the Auckland CBD, Auckland City, New Zealand....
 and Melbourne
Melbourne

Melbourne is the more common name for the geographic region and Census in Australia of the Greater Melbourne metropolitan area. It is the second List of cities in Australia by population in Australia, with a population of approximately 3.8 million and serves as the List of Australian capital cities of Victoria ....
's Eureka Tower
Eureka Tower

Eureka Tower is a skyscraper located in the Southbank, Victoria precinct of Melbourne, Australia. Construction began in August 2002 and the exterior completed on 1 June 2006....
, though Sydney Tower's main observation deck is almost higher than that of Auckland's Sky Tower).






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Sydney Tower (also known as the AMP Tower, AMP Centrepoint Tower, Centrepoint Tower or just Centrepoint) is Sydney
Sydney

Sydney is the List of cities in Australia by population in Australia, with a metropolitan area population of approximately 4.34 million . It is the List of Australian capital cities of New South Wales, and was the site of the first British Empire colony in Australia....
's tallest free-standing structure, and the second tallest in Australia
Australia

Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the southern hemisphere comprising the Australia of the world's smallest continent, the major island of Tasmania, and numerous list of islands of Australia in the Indian Ocean and Pacific Oceans....
 (with the Q1 building
Q1 (building)

Q1 is a supertall skyscraper located in Surfers Paradise, Queensland, on the Gold Coast, Queensland. It is the world's tallest residential tower and the List of tallest buildings in Australia and the Southern Hemisphere....
 on the Gold Coast
Gold Coast, Queensland

The Gold Coast is a city and Local Government Areas of Australia in the South East Queensland corner of Queensland, Australia. It is the second most populous city in the state and the List of cities in Australia by population in the country....
 being the tallest). It is also the third tallest observation tower in the Southern Hemisphere
Southern Hemisphere

The Southern Hemisphere is the half of a planet that is south of the equator?the word sphere literally means 'half ball'. It is also that half of the celestial sphere south of the celestial equator....
 (after Auckland
Auckland

The Auckland metropolitan area or Greater Auckland, in the North Island of New Zealand, is the largest and most populous urban areas of New Zealand with over 1.3 million residents, percent of the country's population....
's Sky Tower
Sky Tower

The Sky Tower is an observation tower and telecommunications tower located on the corner of Victoria and Federal Streets in the Auckland CBD, Auckland City, New Zealand....
 and Melbourne
Melbourne

Melbourne is the more common name for the geographic region and Census in Australia of the Greater Melbourne metropolitan area. It is the second List of cities in Australia by population in Australia, with a population of approximately 3.8 million and serves as the List of Australian capital cities of Victoria ....
's Eureka Tower
Eureka Tower

Eureka Tower is a skyscraper located in the Southbank, Victoria precinct of Melbourne, Australia. Construction began in August 2002 and the exterior completed on 1 June 2006....
, though Sydney Tower's main observation deck is almost higher than that of Auckland's Sky Tower). The Sydney Tower is a member of the World Federation of Great Towers
World Federation of Great Towers

The World Federation of Great Towers is an association of tall towers and skyscrapers from around the world. It was created in 1989. The key criterion for inclusion in the WFGT is that the building in question must have a public observation deck....
.

The tower stands above the Sydney CBD
Sydney central business district

The Sydney central business district , is the main commercial centre of Sydney, Australia. It extends southwards for about 3 kilometres from Sydney Cove, the point of first European settlement....
, being located at 100 Market Street, between Pitt and Castlereagh Streets. It is accessible from the Pitt Street Mall
Pitt Street Mall, Sydney

Pitt Street Mall is the Car-free zone section of Pitt Street, Sydney in the Central business district of Sydney, Australia. It is one block long between Market Street, Sydney and King Street, Sydney and is one of Australia's busiest and most cosmopolitan shopping precincts....
, and sits upon Centrepoint
Westfield Centrepoint

Westfield Centrepoint is the shopping centre underneath the well known Sydney Tower in Sydney, Australia. The Westfield Group centre features over 140 stores and direct connections to Australia's two major department stores Myer and David Jones and formally featured a connection to Imperial Arcade which featured the central business district...
 (to which the tower is often referred), an office and shopping centre
Shopping mall

File:Nordstrom wing , Pentagon City Mall.jpgA shopping mall or shopping centre is a building or set of buildings which contain retail units, with interconnecting walkways enabling visitors to easily walk from unit to unit....
 development. The tower is open to the public, and is one of the most prominent tourist attractions in the city, being visible from a number of vantage points throughout town and from adjoining suburbs.

While AMP
AMP Limited

AMP Limited is an Australian financial corporation. It operates primarily in Australia and New Zealand. AMP formed in 1849 as the Australian Mutual Provident Society, a non-profit friendly society....
 managed the Centrepoint shopping centre, the tower was officially referred to as "AMP Tower". After the Westfield Group took over ownership of Centrepoint in December 2001, the name was changed to Sydney Tower.

History

Construction of the office building commenced in 1970, and tower construction began in 1975. Public access to the tower, at the time the fourth tallest building in the world, began in September 1981. The total cost of construction was AUD
Australian dollar

The Australian dollar is the currency of the Commonwealth of Australia, including Christmas Island, Cocos Islands, and Norfolk Island, as well as the independent Pacific Islandss of Kiribati, Nauru and Tuvalu....
$36 million.

Prior to construction of the tower, the height limit in Sydney had been set at , to allow for safe overflights by flying boat
Flying boat

A flying boat is a specialised form of aircraft that is designed to take off from and land on water, using its fuselage as a floating Hull . Such aircraft are sometimes stabilised on water by underwing floats or by wing-like projections from the fuselage....
s, an aircraft type that had been obsolescent for almost two decades.

In July 2008, one of the lifts malfunctioned from ground level, trapping the 11 occupants for several hours.

Structure


Sections

There are three main sections of the tower open to public access. One is the observation deck at above ground level with a fully-enclosed viewing platform featuring 360 degree views of the city and surrounds. This floor also features a small gift shop, a readout displaying data on the conditions of the tower (wind speed, direction and sway amplitude). The Sydney Tower Skywalk
Sydney Tower Skywalk

Sydney Tower Skywalk, or just Skywalk, is an open-air, glass-floored platform circling Sydney Tower at a height of 260m above ground level....
 platform at above ground level has an open-air viewing platform only accessible as part of planned and booked tours.

There are also revolving restaurants, one à la carte and one buffet. The buffet restaurant was renovated in 2006. It seats 220 people, and serves 185,000 customers annually, of which 50,000 are international visitors, mostly from Asia.

Details

The tower has a maximum capacity of 960 people. Travel from the ground to the tower is via three high speed double-deck elevator
Double-deck elevator

Double-deck elevators are designed with two elevator cars which are attached one on top of the other. This allows passengers on two consecutive floors to be able to use the elevator simultaneously, significantly increasing the passenger capacity of an elevator shaft....
s that reach the observation deck in approximately 40 seconds if on maximum speed, this depends on wind conditions at the time.

Cultural events

Leading up to the Sydney 2000 Olympics
2000 Summer Olympics

The Sydney 2000 Summer Olympic Games or the Millennium Games/Games of the New Millennium, officially known as the Games of the XXVII Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event which was celebrated between 13 September and 1 October 2000 in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia....
, the tower was decorated with sculptures of athletes, which were positioned above the main body of the tower and in some cases overhung the edges. These sculptures were removed in 2003 and relocated to Sydney Olympic Park
Sydney Olympic Park

File:Australia stadium aka ANZ stadium.jpgSydney Olympic Park is a 640-hectare site located in the suburb of Homebush Bay, New South Wales in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia....
 at Homebush
Homebush, New South Wales

Homebush is an Inner West suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Homebush is located 15 kilometres west of the Sydney central business district, in the Local Government Areas in Australia of the Municipality of Strathfield....
. The figures were placed atop the tower using an Erickson S-64 Aircrane heavy lift helicopter known as "Elvis"
Elvis (helicopter)

"Elvis" is the nickname of an S-64 Skycrane Air-Crane Helitanker which has gained fame in Australia as a highly visible and valuable tool in bushfire suppression....
.

On several occasions, the tower has been used to launch fireworks
Fireworks

A firework is classified as a low explosive material pyrotechnics device used primarily for aesthetic and entertainment purposes. The most common use of a firework is as part of a fireworks display....
 or it has been illuminated with coloured lights as part of various celebrations in Sydney, such as New Years Eve or during the Olympics in 2000.

Every year, the Sydney Tower Run-up comprises the challenge of running up 1,504 stairs from Pitt St mall to the Observation Deck as quickly as possible. The event is to raise money for the Cancer Council
The Cancer Council Australia

The Cancer Council Australia is a national, not for profit organisation which aims to promote cancer-control policies and to reduce the illness caused by cancer in Australia....
, and the two winners become eligible to compete in the Empire State Building
Empire State Building

The Empire State Building is a 102-story Art Deco skyscraper in New York City at the intersection of Fifth Avenue and West 34th Street. Its name is derived from the List of U.S....
 Run-up.

In popular culture

  • The tower can be seen in several shots of Sydney in the 2000 movie Mission Impossible 2.
  • The tower was destroyed in the 2004 movie Godzilla: Final Wars
    Godzilla: Final Wars

    is the fiftieth anniversary film and the twenty-eighth film in the Godzilla .It was directed by Ryuhei Kitamura and produced by Shogo Tomiyama. As a 50th anniversary celebratory film, a large group of actors from previous Godzilla films, both classic and new, made appearances as main characters or cameo appearances....
     when Godzilla first attacks Sydney.
  • The tower was destroyed by meteors in Armageddon in 1998 and was destroyed in Supernova 7 years later.


See also

Sydneyamptower Gobeirne
* List of towers
List of towers

These are lists of towers that fall under the definition of a tower which is a tall man-made structure, always taller than it is wide. Towers are generally built to take advantage of their height and can stand alone or as part of a larger structure....
  • Hyperboloid structure
    Hyperboloid structure

    Hyperboloid structures are architectural structures designed with hyperboloid geometry. Often these are tall structures such as towers where the hyperboloid geometry's structural strength is used to support an object high off the ground, but hyperboloid geometry is also often used for decorative effect as well as structural economy....
    • List of Hyperboloid structures
      List of Hyperboloid structures

      This page is a list of hyperboloid structures. These were first applied in architecture by Russian engineer Vladimir Shukhov . Shukhov built his first example as a water tower for the 1896 All-Russia exhibition 1896....


External links

(Includes photos taken during construction)