Attendees of the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat’s annual meeting enjoyed a reception at the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago by Finnish elevator manufacturer Kone on Oct. 29.
While admiring the 1,500 species of aquatic life at the Shedd, guests also learned about Kone’s UltraRope, an alternative to steel cables for elevators in tall buildings that has four strands of carbon fiber woven together and is covered by a high-friction coating. Representatives from Kone said it extends the life of the average tall building elevator cable to twice what a steel cable can provide, eliminates rope stretch and is being specified on the 817-ft-tall Bank of America Tower at 110 N. Wacker Drive in Chicago. It has also been specified on the Jeddah Tower in Saudi Arabia.