The Petronas Tower
The Petronas Twin Towers are located in Jalan Ampang, the Kuala Lumpur City Centre (Malaysia) and represent the tallest, continuously habitable twin buildings in the entire world.
Also known as Menara Petronas, or Menara Berkembar Petronas (because the major occupant of the two buildings is Petronas, the national oil-company), the structures are used mostly for commercial offices and have been built in six years, during 1992 and 1998 (yet they were officially inaugurated in August 1999), reaching an impressive total cost of approximately 1.6 billion dollars. Tower1 was built by Hazama Corporation, one of the ten biggest construction companies in Japan and Tower2 was built by Samsung Engineering & Construction and Kukdong Engineering & Construction City Center. The buildings were designed by architect Cesar Pelli, well known for designing some of the world’s tallest buildings in the world, while Thornton Tomasetti was the most important structural engineer. The technical details include a 395,000 m2 surface representing the floor area and 88 floors (the buildings are 452 metres tall), which are made up largely by reinforced concrete, with a splendid steel and glass facade created in order to illustrate the motifs reflected in the arts and culture of the Islamic populations.
The lower part of the twin towers includes Malaysia’s premier shopping centre (Suria KLCC, located on six floors) and also Malaysia’s first purpose built concert hall (with 840 seats), Dewan Filharmonik Petronas. Between the Petronas Twin Towers there is an impressive skybridge between, situated on the 41st and 42nd floors, currently being the highest 2-story bridge in the world and it is open daily to all visitors, yet the ticket number has a limit of 1700 per day (people for which the entrance is free). In addition to this, the towers’ complex host an art gallery and a modern underground parking lot.
The Petronas Towers – Numbers and records
Tallest building in the world during 1998-2004
Tallest twin building in the world since 1998
Construction started: 1992
Completed: 1998
Cost: US$1.6 billion
Antenna spire: 451.9 m (1,483 ft)
Roof: 378.6 m (1,242 ft)
Top floor: 375 m (1,230 ft)
Floor count: 88
Floor area: 395,000 m2 (4,252,000 sq ft)
Elevator count: 78
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