The Petronas Towers, also known as the Petronas Twin Towers and the KLCC Twin Towers, are 88-storey super-tall skyscrapers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. At 451.9 meters (1,483 feet), they are the world’s tallest twin skyscrapers.
The Petronas Towers’ structural system is a tube-in-tube design, invented by architect Fazlur Rahman Khan. Applying a tube structure to extremely tall buildings is a common phenomenon. 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. Another Islamic influence on the design is that the cross-section of the towers is based on a Rub el Hizb, albeit with circular sectors added to meet office space requirements. The circular sectors are similar to the bottom part of the Qutub Minar.
The towers were designed by Argentine-American architect César Pelli. A distinctive postmodern style was chosen to create a 21st-century icon for Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Planning on the Petronas Towers started on 1 January 1992 and included rigorous tests and simulations of wind and structural loads on the design. Tower 1, the west was built by a Japanese consortium while Tower 2, the east was built by a South Korean consortium.
Suria KLCC is a 140,000 m2 upmarket retail center at the feet of the Petronas Towers. It features mostly foreign luxury goods and high-street labels. Its attractions include an art gallery, an underwater aquarium, and also a Science center. Boasting approximately 300 stores, Suria KLCC is touted as one of the largest shopping malls in Malaysia. The Petronas Philharmonic Hall, also built at the base of the towers, is frequently associated with Suria KLCC’s floorspace. During holiday or celebration day , Suria KLCC is the top spot to see the beautiful decoration, especially at the main entrances and also Centre Court. It is also to promote the uniqueness and beauty of Malaysia’s cultural diversity to the visitors.
The towers feature a double-decker sky bridge connecting the two towers on the 41st and 42nd floors, which is the highest 2-story bridge in the world. It is not attached to the main structure but is instead designed to slide in and out of the towers to prevent them from breaking, as the towers sway several feet in towards and away from each other during high winds. It also provides some structural support to the towers on these occasions. The bridge is 170 m above the ground and 58.4 m long, weighing 750 tons. The same floor is also known as the podium since visitors going to higher levels have to change elevators here. The sky bridge is open to all visitors, but tickets are limited to about 1,000 people per day and must be obtained on a first-come, first-served basis. The sky bridge 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 sky bridge to the other tower.
The Petronas Towers remained the tallest buildings in Malaysia until 2021 when they were surpassed by the Merdeka 118.
According to Wikipedia
