INTRODUCTION

Completed in 2003, this 55-story skyscraper not only dominates the skyline but also represents the forefront of earthquake-resistant design. Built to last 2,500 years!

The City of Mexico City is growing vertically with skyscrapers dominating the skyline and Torre Mayor, a pinnacle of earthquake engineering, stands at its middle, soaring at a height of 225 meters as one of Latin America’s tallest building.

The design and construction challenges that the City of Mexico presents are multi-faceted due to its location in one of the most adverse geologic and tectonic environments in the world. In 1985 a devastating earthquake claimed over 9,000 lives, despite its epicenter being almost 400 kilometers away from the city. Apparently, the subsurface below the center of this city of millions amplifies earthquakes.As per Leobardo Dominguez, “Mexico City is built on a lakebed, there are strata of soft clay going down 30 meters. When the seismic waves reach this sediment and are transferred to the surface, the whole layer begins to rock. It’s a dynamic effect that amplifies earthquakes.”

Trumping nature with advanced technologies, Torre Mayor stands tall as a testimony to fine engineering and a landmark building resilient to earthquakes. The architecture of the building was done by Adamson Associates Architects, Zeidler Roberts Partnership, IDEA Asociados de los and Estados Unidos Méxicanos. WSP Group was entrusted with the structural engineering.
 

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