Sky lobby

The sky lobby in Central Plaza, Hong Kong

A sky lobby is an intermediate interchange floor in a skyscraper where people can change from an express elevator that stops only at the sky lobby to a local elevator that stops at a subset of higher floors.

Early uses of the sky lobby include the original Twin Towers of the World Trade Center and 875 North Michigan Avenue in Chicago.^[1]

Nearly 200 people were estimated to have been in the 78th floor sky lobby of the South Tower of the original World Trade Center when it was hit directly by United Airlines Flight 175, leaving only around a dozen who survived the impact and escaped the tower before it collapsed.^[2][3]

One World Trade Center (Manhattan)

One World Trade Center is the tallest skyscraper in New York City. Like the original World Trade Center buildings it replaced, the new building has a sky lobby to reduce the amount of space devoted to elevators. The sky lobby is on the 64th floor; Each set of five to six stories is served by a separate bank of elevators. The elevators to the sky lobby, along with the ones used for the nonstop service to the 100th-floor One World Observatory, are the fastest in the Western Hemisphere. The observatory elevator transports passengers 100 floors in under one minute.^[4]

875 North Michigan Avenue (Chicago)

The John Hancock Center's sky lobby on the 44th floor serves only the residential portion of the building that occupies 48 floors (floors 45–92). Three express elevators run from the residential lobby on the ground floor to the 44th floor, with all three of the elevators stopping at one of the parking garage levels.^[5] At floor 44, residents transfer to two banks of three elevators. One bank serves 21 floors (floors 45–65) and the other serves 28 floors (floors 65–92). Although all six elevators stop at floor 65, this floor is roughly the same layout as the residential floors immediately above and below it. It is not a sky lobby because residents can also board elevators to higher floors at floor 44.^[6]

The tower's 44th floor sky lobby includes a pool, gym, dry cleaner, convenience store, about 700 mailboxes, two "party" rooms, a sitting area overlooking Lake Michigan, a small library, a refuse room (with trash chutes emptying here), offices for the managers of the residential condominium,^[7] and a polling station for residents during elections.

Floors above 92 are serviced by direct passenger elevators from the ground floor, and by two freight elevators that serve 55 floors (floors 44 to 98).^[8]

Buildings with sky lobbies

The former World Trade Center, designed by Minoru Yamasaki, used sky lobbies, located on the 44th and 78th floors of each tower.

View from the sky lobby in the JPMorgan Chase Tower, Houston (the roof of TC Energy Center building is visible through the window)

The Nina Tower sky lobby

Building Name	Year	Location	Floors of sky lobby(s)
875 North Michigan Avenue	1969	Chicago, Illinois, United States	44
30 Hudson Yards	2019	New York City, New York, United States	35
1 World Trade Center (1971–2001)	1972	New York City, New York, United States	44, 78
2 World Trade Center (1971–2001)	1973	New York City, New York, United States	44, 78
Willis Tower	1973	Chicago, Illinois, United States	33/34, 66/67
NatWest Tower	1980	London, United Kingdom	23/24
JPMorgan Chase Tower (Houston)	1982	Houston, Texas, United States	60
Wells Fargo Plaza (Houston)	1983	Houston, Texas, United States	34/35, 58/59
Williams Tower	1983	Houston, Texas, United States	51
Columbia Center	1985	Seattle, Washington, United States	40
Miami Tower	1987	Miami, Florida, United States	11
Seattle Municipal Tower	1990	Seattle, Washington, United States	40
Petronas Twin Towers	1999	Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia	41/42
Izumi Garden Tower	2002	Tokyo, Japan	–
First World Hotel	2008	Genting Highlands, Pahang, Malaysia	3, 8
Taipei 101	2004	Taipei, Taiwan	35/36, 59/60
Shin Kong Life Tower	1993	Taipei, Taiwan	16
Revenue Tower	1990	Wan Chai North, Hong Kong	38
Immigration Tower	1990	Wan Chai North, Hong Kong	38
Central Plaza	1992	Wan Chai North, Hong Kong	46
The Center	1998	Central, Hong Kong	42
Two International Finance Centre	2003	Central, Hong Kong	33, 35, 55, 56
Bloomberg Tower	2004	New York City, New York, United States	6, 20
Nina Tower	2006	Tsuen Wan, New Territories, Hong Kong	41
One Island East	2005	Quarry Bay, Hong Kong	36, 37
The Bow	2007	Calgary, Alberta, Canada	18, 36, 58
Shanghai World Financial Center	2008	Shanghai, China	28/29, 52/53
Burj Khalifa	2010	Dubai, United Arab Emirates	43, 76, 123
200 West Street	2009	New York City, New York, United States	11
International Commerce Centre	2010	West Kowloon, Hong Kong	48/49, 88, 98/99
Jeddah Tower	2020	Jeddah, Saudi Arabia	42/43, 75/76, 125/126[9]
One World Trade Center(2014-)	2014	New York City, New York, United States	64
Rosslyn Central Place Office Tower	2016	Arlington, Virginia, United States	6
Lakhta Center	2018	Saint Petersburg, Russia	29/30, 53/54
Australia 108	2019	Melbourne, Australia	83, 84[10][11]
Wilshire Grand Tower	2017	Los Angeles, California, United States	70
Shanghai Tower	2015	Shanghai, China	22/23, 37/38, 52/53, 68/69, 101
Wuhan Greenland Center	2018	Wuhan, China	25/26, 49/50, 70, 116/117
Tokyo Sky Tree	2012	Sumida, Tokyo, Japan	4F, 350m
Abeno Harukas	2014	Osaka, Japan	17/18, 19/20
Wisma 46	1996	Jakarta, Indonesia	46
Merdeka 118	2021	Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia	40/41, 75/76
UOB Plaza Tower One	1995	Singapore, Singapore	37–38
S2 Building EEPIS	2015	Surabaya, Indonesia	1[12]
Abraj Al-Bait Clock Tower	2012	Makkah, Saudi Arabia	M2,[13] M4[14]
Plaza Tunjungan 5	2015	Surabaya, Indonesia	20
311 South Wacker Drive	1990	Chicago, Illinois, United States	46
Lurie Children's Hospital	2012	Chicago, Illinois, United States	11
Djamaa el Djazaïr	2019	Algiers, Algeria	4

References

1. "Otis History: The World Trade Center". Otis Elevator Company. Archived from the original on 2006-11-15. Retrieved 2006-12-07.
2. Neal, Rome (2002-09-10). "A Sept. 11 Survivor's Tale". CBS News. Retrieved 2022-11-27.
3. Corbett, Glenn (2018-09-05). "How the Design of the World Trade Center Claimed Lives on 9/11". HISTORY. Retrieved 2022-11-27.
4. "Fastest Elevators in the West Climb Tallest Skyscraper in the West". Scientific American. May 21, 2015. Retrieved January 30, 2020.
5. "Residential Sky Lobby elevators". YouTube. January 1, 2020. Retrieved March 12, 2020.^{[dead YouTube link]}
6. "Residential Elevators at 875 N Michigan Ave". YouTube. January 1, 2020. Retrieved March 12, 2020.^{[dead YouTube link]}
7. "The John Hancock Center". Earl Reid. Retrieved 2008-01-07.
8. "Residential Service elevators". YouTube. January 8, 2020. Retrieved March 12, 2020.^{[dead YouTube link]}
9. "Adrian Smith interview". WTTW. August 4, 2011. Retrieved 2011-08-07.
10. "Six Star Hotel – Australia 108". Archived from the original on 2013-04-26. Retrieved 2013-03-19.
11. "Rising high: 108-storey super tower planned for Melbourne". The West Australian. 2012-11-12. Retrieved 2013-03-19.
12. This is not a ground floor, and in other building on EEPIS complex, this floor is known as 2nd floor.
13. Used as the hotel lobby
14. Used as the serviced apartments lobby