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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.

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.

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.

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. 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.

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, 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).

Buildings with sky lobbies

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.
6. "Residential Elevators at 875 N Michigan Ave". YouTube. January 1, 2020. Retrieved March 12, 2020.
7. "The John Hancock Center". Earl Reid. Retrieved 2008-01-07.
8. "Residential Service elevators". YouTube. January 8, 2020. Retrieved March 12, 2020.
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

• Rooms
• Elevators