Petronas Twin Tower

Last Friday we had a wonderful weekend holiday trip to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and visited one of the most talked-about Petronas Twin Tower, really mesmerizing and charming structure especially at night.

A quote by the building's main architect:

"According to Lao Tse, the reality of a hollow object is in the void and not in the walls that define it. He was speaking, of course, of spiritual realities. These are the realities also of the Petronas Towers. The power of the void is increased and made more explicit by the pedestrian bridge that ... with its supporting structure creates a portal to the sky ... a door to the infinite."

—Cesar Pelli, architect (1995)



The Petronas Twin Towers were the tallest buildings in the world until Taipei 101 was completed in 2004, as measured to the top of their structural components (spires, but not antennas). The Petronas Twin Towers remain the tallest twin buildings in the world.

Designed by Argentine architect César Pelli, the Petronas Towers were completed in 1998 after a seven year build and became the tallest buildings in the world on the date of completion. They were built on the site of Kuala Lumpur's race track. Because of the depth of the bedrock, the buildings were built on the world's deepest foundations. The 120-meter foundations were built within 12 months by Bachy Soletanche, and required massive amounts of concrete


The 88-floor towers are constructed largely of reinforced concrete, with a steel and glass facade designed to resemble motifs found in Islamic art, a reflection of Malaysia's Muslim religion


Below the twin towers is Suria KLCC, a shopping mall, and Dewan Filharmonik Petronas, the home of the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra.




Spanning 17 acres (69,000 m2) below the building is the KLCC park with jogging and walking paths, a fountain with incorporated light show, wading pools, and a children's playground. Suria KLCC is one of the largest shopping malls in Malaysia


The towers feature a skybridge between the two towers on 41st and 42nd floors, which is the highest 2-story bridge in the world. It is not directly bolted to the main structure, but is instead designed to slide in and out of the towers to prevent it from breaking during high winds. The bridge is 170 m (558 ft) above the ground and 58 m (190 ft) long, weighing 750 tons. The same floor is also known as the podium, since visitors desiring to go to higher levels have to change elevators here. The skybridge is open to all visitors, but free passes (limited to 1700 people per day) must be obtained on a first-come, first-served basis. Visitors are only allowed on the 41st floor as the 42nd floor can only be used by the tenants of the building. The skybridge also acts as a safety device, so that in the event of a fire or other emergency in one tower, tenants can evacuate by crossing the skybridge to the other tower.

I can say that I really fell in love with this pretty amazing and neat structure. That's why I can't stop taking photos of it:D



Note: Information source: wikipedia