Kuala Lumpur series (1): Petronas Towers
My family and I were recently on holiday in Kuala Lumpur (KL), the capital city of Malaysia. This week I wish to share with you a few sites and curiosities that I saw while in KL.
Today, I bring you the Petronas Towers. We were at the Concourse Level at 7:30 in the morning and lined up for 90 minutes to buy tickets to go up the towers. There were still many people ahead of us in line so the earliest available viewing time we could get was 2 pm. Ticket includes visit to the Skybridge on level 41 and the observation deck on level 86.
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| Ground Level- Petronas Towers Photo by Michael Wortman |
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| View from Skybridge Level 41-Petronas Towers height:170 meters Photo by Michael Wortman |
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| View from the Observation Deck Level 86- Petronas Towers Height: 370 meters Photo by Michael Wortman |
 Observation Deck |
| Photo of the other tower from the Observation Deck Level 86- Petronas Towers Height: 370 meters Photo by Michael Wortman |
The Petronas Towers
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| Photo Source |
Height: 1,483 ft (452 meters)
Owners: Kuala Lumpur City Centre Holdings Sendirian Berhad
Architects: Cesar Pelli & Associates
Engineers: Thornton-Tomasetti Engineers
Contractors: Mayjus and SKJ Joint Ventures
Topping Out: 1998
Official Opening: August 28, 1999
On April 15, 1996, the Council on Tall Buildings named the Petronas Towers the tallest in the world, passing the torch to a new continent. Although the project’s developers, a consortium of private investors in association with the Malaysian government and Petronas, the national oil company, had not originally set out to surpass Chicago’s Sears Tower, they did aspire to construct a monument announcing Kuala Lumpur’s prominence as a commercial and cultural capital.
Pelli’s design answered the developer’s call to express the ‘culture and heritage of Malaysia’ by evoking Islamic arabesques and employing repetitive geometries characteristic of Muslim architecture. In plan, an 8-point star formed by intersecting squares is an obvious reference to Islamic design; curved and pointed bays create a scalloped facade that suggests temple towers. The identical towers are linked by a bridge at the 41st floor, creating a dramatic gateway to the city.
In both engineering and design, the Petronas Towers succeed at acknowledging Malaysia’s past and future, embracing the country’s heritage while proclaiming its modernization. The end result, says Pelli, is a monument that is not specifically Malaysian, but will forever be identified with Kuala Lumpur. (Info Source)
Read more about the Petronas Towers on Wikipedia
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| Here’s a height comparison of the Petronas Towers with other tall structures in the world Source:Wikipedia |
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