PETRONAS TOWER

Petronas Twin Towers

Location: Kuala Lumpur City Center
Built During: 1992-1998
Height: 452.0 m (1,482.9 ft) including spire
No. of Floors: 88
No. of Elevators: 78
Significance: It is the tallest twin buildings in the world.
How To Reach: One can reach Twin Towers by hiring taxis or by boarding trains, buses from the city.

The Petronas Twin Towers are acclaimed to be the tallest twin buildings of the world. Located at KLCC complex in Kuala Lumpur, Twin Towers undoubtedly are the pride of Malaysia. These buildings were constructed during 1992-1998 though were officially opened in 1999. They were assumed to be world's tallest structure from 1998 till 2004, however, the construction of Taipei 101 surpassed them with its additional 13 floors in 2004. Petronas, the national oil company of Malaysia, embarked to build the tallest building in the world.

Cesar Pelli, an Argentine-American architect, designed these towers that were tallest in the world on the date of completion. The 88-floor towers are raised mainly of reinforced concrete, with their façade crafted in steel and glass. Petronas Towers are a glistening example of modern hi-tech architecture and reverence of established religion, as the marvelous facade bears motifs found in Islamic art. Since the bedrock was deep, the buildings came to be known as the towers erected on the world's deepest foundations.

The 120-meter foundations called for huge amounts of concrete and were laid by Bachy Soletanche. Whilst Tower 1 was built by the South Korean multinational-Samsung Engineering & Construction, Hazama Corporation of Japan constructed the Tower 2. They were built on a cheaper radical design of high strength reinforced concrete as a consequence of lack of steel and massive cost of importing steel. However, this high-strength concrete made the building twofold heavy if compared with a steel building.

The Twin Towers make use of sophisticated structural system, supported by 23-by-23 meter concrete cores and an outer loop of widely-spaced super columns, which maintains their slender profile. This entire forecast now crafts 1300-2000 square meters of column-free space for office at each floor. Regarding the tenants, Tower One is utterly occupied by the Petronas and its subsidiaries and associate companies. In Tower Two, the office spaces are mainly obtainable for lease to other companies.

The towers encompass a skybridge, which was built by Kukdong Engineering & Construction. This skybridge lies between the two towers on 41st and 42nd floors, making itself the world's highest 2-story bridge. The bridge is 170 m above the ground, 58 m long and weighs 750 tons. The same floor is also called Podium because the visitors, wishing to go to the higher levels, have to change elevators here. It is open to all visitors, though entry is limited to 1700 people per day.

The skybridge also works as a safety device, seeing as in case of fire or other emergency in one tower, tenants can evacuate by crossing the bridge to the other tower. Up till 2004, Petronas Towers were the world's tallest buildings on measured from the main entrance to the structural top, the initial height reference used by the US-based Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat from 1969. Since the height computation reference is vague, at times, controversies have cropped up regarding the procedure.

Interesting Facts about the Petronas Towers

• Petronas Towers were built at a whopping cost of US $ 1, 2 billion.
• The towers are built on the site of earlier race track of Kuala Lumpur.
• The towers, together, have 1,000,000 square meter of floor space.
• The towers, combined, have 32, 000 windows, 1,800 doors, and 765 staircases.
• They were designed to represent grace and strength using geometric principles illustrated in Islamic architecture.
• Without the pinnacle, the towers measure 378 meter (1,240 feet).
• Petronas, the national oil-company, is the main occupant of the towers.
• Though the construction was completed in 1998, the towers were officially opened on 28 Aug' 1999.
• The buildings contain 80,000 cubic meters concrete, almost 11,000 tonnes of reinforcement, and 7,500 tonnes of structural steel beams and trusses.
• Twin Towers are part of the 100-acre KLCC Development.
• The Skyway, connecting the towers, is closed on Mondays. Free passes to visit the towers must be obtained on first-come, first-served basis.
• Visitors are allowed to access the bridge at 41st level because 42nd level is occupied by tenants.