| Petronas Towers | |
| Alternate Names: | Petronas Twin Towers, KLCC Twin Towers |
| Native Name: | Malay: Menara Berkembar Petronas |
| Mapframe-Zoom: | 16 |
| Highest Prev: | Sears Tower |
| Highest Next: | Taipei 101 |
| Highest Start: | 1998 |
| Highest End: | 2004 |
| Location: | Jalan Ampang, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia |
| Building Type: | Commercial offices and tourist attraction |
| Architectural Style: | PostmodernIslamic architecture |
| Architectural: | 451.9m (1,482.6feet)[1] |
| Tip: | 451.9m (1,482.6feet) |
| Antenna Spire: | 46m (151feet) |
| Roof: | 405.9m (1,331.7feet) |
| Top Floor: | 375m (1,230feet) (Level 88) |
| Observatory: | (Level 86) |
| Floor Count: | 88 (with 5 being underground) |
| Public Transit: | KLCC LRT station |
| Elevator Count: | 38 (each tower) |
| Cost: | US$1.6 billion[2] |
| Floor Area: | 395000-3NaN-3 |
| Architect: | César Pelli |
| Structural Engineer: | Thornton Tomasetti & Ranhill Bersekutu |
| Main Contractor: | Tower 1: Hazama Corporation Tower 2: Samsung Engineering & Construction and Kukdong Engineering & Construction City Center: B.L. Harbert International |
| Developer: | KLCC Holdings Sdn Bhd |
| Owner: | KLCC Holdings Sdn Bhd |
| References: | [3] |
The Petronas Towers (Malay: Menara Berkembar Petronas), also known as the Petronas Twin Towers and colloquially the KLCC Twin Towers, are an interlinked pair of 88-story supertall skyscrapers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, standing at 451.9m (1,482.6feet). From 1998 to 2004, they were officially designated as the tallest buildings in the world until they were surpassed by the completion of Taipei 101. The Petronas Towers are the world's tallest twin skyscrapers and remained the tallest buildings in Malaysia until 2019, when they were surpassed by The Exchange 106. The Petronas Towers are a major landmark of Kuala Lumpur, along with the nearby Kuala Lumpur Tower and Merdeka 118, and are visible in many places across the city.
The Petronas Towers' structural system is a tube in tube design, invented by Bangladeshi-American architect Fazlur Rahman Khan.[4] [5] Applying a tube-structure for extreme tall buildings is a common phenomenon.[6] [7] 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.[8] 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.[9] 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. Seven years of construction followed at the former site of the original Selangor Turf Club, beginning on 1 March 1993 with excavation, which involved moving 500 truckloads of earth every night to dig down below the surface.The construction of the superstructure commenced on 1 April 1994. Interiors with furniture were completed on 1 January 1996, the spires of Tower 1 and Tower 2 were completed on 1 March 1996, 3 years after its construction was started, and the first batch of Petronas personnel moved into the building on 1 January 1997. The building was officially opened by the Prime Minister of Malaysia, Tun Dr. Mahathir bin Mohamad, on 31 August 1999.[10] The twin towers were built on the site of Kuala Lumpur's race track. It was the tallest structure in Malaysia at the time of its completion.[11] Test boreholes found that the original construction site effectively sat on the edge of a cliff. One half of the site was decayed limestone while the other half was soft rock. The entire site was moved 61m (200feet) to allow the buildings to sit entirely on the soft rock.[12] Because of the depth of the bedrock, the buildings were built on the world's deepest foundations.[13] 104 concrete piles, ranging from 60to deep, were bored into the ground. The concrete raft foundation, comprising of concrete was continuously poured through a period of 54 hours for each tower. The raft is 4.6m (15.1feet) thick, weighs and held the world record for the largest concrete pour until 2007.[12] The foundations were completed within 12 months by Bachy Soletanche and required massive amounts of concrete.[14] As a result of the Malaysian government specifying that the buildings be completed in six years, two construction consortia were hired to meet the deadline, one for each tower. Tower 1, the west tower (left in the top-right photograph) was built by a Japanese consortium led by the Hazama Corporation (JA Jones Construction Co., MMC Engineering Services Sdn Bhd, Ho Hup Construction Co. Bhd and Mitsubishi Corp) while Tower 2, the east tower (right in the top-right photograph) was built by a South Korean consortium led by the Samsung C&T Corporation (Kukdong Engineering & Construction and Syarikat Jasatera Sdn Bhd).
Early into construction a batch of concrete failed a routine strength test causing construction to come to a complete halt. All the completed floors were tested but it was found that only one had used a bad batch and it was demolished. As a result of the concrete failure, each new batch was tested before being poured. The halt in construction had cost US$700,000 per day and led to three separate concrete plants being set up on the site to ensure that if one produced a bad batch, the other two could continue to supply concrete. The sky bridge contract was completed by Kukdong Engineering & Construction. Tower 2 (Samsung C&T) became the first to reach the world's tallest building at the time.
Due to the huge cost of importing steel, the towers were constructed on a cheaper radical design of super high-strength reinforced concrete.[15] High-strength concrete is a material familiar to Asian contractors and twice as effective as steel in sway reduction; however, it makes the building twice as heavy on its foundation as a comparable steel building. Supported by 23-by-23 metre concrete cores[16] and an outer ring of widely spaced super columns, the towers use a sophisticated structural system that accommodates its slender profile and provides 560,000 square metres of column-free office space.[17] Below the twin towers is Suria KLCC, a shopping mall, and Petronas Philharmonic Hall, the home of the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra.
Tower One is fully occupied by Petronas and a number of its subsidiaries and associate companies, while the office spaces in Tower Two are mostly available for lease to other companies.[24] A number of companies have offices in Tower Two, including SapuraOMV Upstream (Sarawak) Inc., Huawei Technologies, AVEVA, Al Jazeera English, Carigali Hess, Bloomberg, Boeing, IBM, Khazanah Nasional Berhad, McKinsey & Co, WIPRO Limited, TCS, HCLTech, Krawler, Microsoft, The Agency (a modelling company) and Reuters.
| Levels | Tower 1 | Tower 2 |
|---|---|---|
| 88 | Mechanical | |
| 87 | ||
| 86 | Lounge 2 | Observatory Deck |
| 85 | Boardroom | Multimedia Conference Room |
| 84M3 | Mechanical | |
| 84M2 | ||
| 84M1 | ||
| 84 | ||
| 83 | Lounge 1 | Observatory Deck Gift Shop |
| 82 | Office Zone 5 | |
| 81 | ||
| 80 | ||
| 79 | ||
| 78 | ||
| 77 | ||
| 76 | ||
| 75 | ||
| 74 | ||
| 73 | Office Zone 4 | |
| 72 | ||
| 71 | ||
| 70 | ||
| 69 | ||
| 68 | ||
| 67 | ||
| 66 | ||
| 65 | ||
| 64 | ||
| 63 | ||
| 62 | ||
| 61 | ||
| 60 | Office Zone 3 | |
| 59 | ||
| 58 | ||
| 57 | ||
| 56 | ||
| 55 | ||
| 54 | ||
| 53 | ||
| 52 | ||
| 51 | ||
| 50 | ||
| 49 | ||
| 48 | ||
| 47 | ||
| 46 | ||
| 45 | ||
| 44 | ||
| 43 | ||
| 42 | Sky Bridge connected to Tower 2, Sky Lobby | Sky Bridge connected to Tower 1, Sky Lobby, Malaysian Petroleum Club |
| 41 | ||
| 40 | Conference Centre, Executive Dining Room | |
| 39 | Mechanical | |
| 38 | ||
| 37 | Conference Centre | |
| 36 | Office Zone 2 | |
| 35 | ||
| 34 | ||
| 33 | ||
| 32 | ||
| 31 | ||
| 30 | ||
| 29 | ||
| 28 | ||
| 27 | ||
| 26 | ||
| 25 | ||
| 24 | ||
| 23 | Office Zone 1 | |
| 22 | ||
| 21 | ||
| 20 | ||
| 19 | ||
| 18 | ||
| 17 | ||
| 16 | ||
| 15 | ||
| 14 | ||
| 13 | ||
| 12 | ||
| 11 | ||
| 10 | ||
| 9 | ||
| 8 | ||
| 7 | Mechanical | |
| 6 | ||
| 5 | Petronas Petroleum Resource Centre, Petrosains Discovery Centre | Petrosains Discovery Centre |
| 4 | ||
| 3 | Surau Al-Muhsinin | Petronas Art Gallery |
| 2 | Petronas Philharmonic Hall | |
| 1 | Entrance Lobby | |
| Ground Level | ||
| Concourse Mezzanine | Mechanical, Loading Dock | |
| Concourse Level | Observatory Deck Entrance, Gift Shop, Petronas Cards Centre, Mesra Shoppe, Twin Towers Fitness Centre | |
| P1 | Carpark, Mechanical | |
| P2 | ||
| P3 | ||
| P4 | ||
| P5 | ||
See main article: Suria KLCC.
Suria KLCC is a 140000m2 upscale retail center at the foot 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.[25] The Petronas Philharmonic Hall, also built at the base of the towers, is frequently associated with Suria KLCC's floorspace. During holidays or celebration days, Suria KLCC is the top spot to see the decorations especially at the main entrances and also in Centre Court. It also promotes the uniqueness and beauty of Malaysia's cultural diversity towards the visitors.
See main article: KLCC Park. Spanning 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.
The towers feature a double decker skybridge connecting the two towers on the 41st and 42nd floors, holding the record for the highest 2-story bridge in the world.[26] The skybridge also functions as a crucial design feature facilitating movement between the two towers during high winds.[27] The bridge is 1700NaN0 above the ground and 58.40NaN0 long, weighing 750 tons.[28] The same floor is also known as the podium, since visitors going to higher levels have to change elevators here. Dynamic analyses were performed and iterated to support the final design by studying the structural behavior of the twin towers to time-varying loads such as earthquakes and wind.[29] The skybridge is open to all visitors, but tickets are limited to about 1,000 people per day, with around half available to be purchased online, and the other half obtained on a first-come, first-served basis. Initially, the visit was free but in 2010, the tickets started being sold by Petronas. Visitors can choose to opt for package one which is just a visit to the skybridge or go for package two to go to the skybridge and all the way to level 86.[30] Visitors are only allowed on the 41st floor as the 42nd floor can only be used by the tenants of the building.[31]
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.[32] The total evacuation triggered by a bomb hoax on 12 September 2001 (the day after the September 11 attacks destroyed the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York City) showed that the bridge would not be useful if both towers need to be emptied simultaneously, as the capacity of the staircases was insufficient for such an event.[33] Plans thus call for the lifts to be used if both towers need to be evacuated, and a successful drill following the revised plan was conducted in 2005.
There is a two hinged arch that supports the skybridge with arch legs, each long, that are bolted to level 29 of each of the towers.[34] After being constructed on the ground, the skybridge was lifted into place on the towers over a period of three days[35] in July 1995. Residing on the 41st and 42nd floors, the skybridge connects a conference room, an executive dining room and a prayer room.
The main bank of lifts is located in the centre of each tower. All main lifts are double-decker with the lower deck of the lift taking passengers to even-numbered floors and upper deck to odd-numbered floors. To reach an odd-numbered floor from ground level, passengers must take an escalator to the upper deck of the lift.[36]
There are 29 double-deck passenger elevators, but there are different sets that service certain floors of the towers, specifically two sets of six of these double-deck passenger elevators to floors 1–23 and 1–37 respectively. Another set of 5 passenger lifts transport passengers to the 41st and 42nd floors where they can switch lifts to reach the upper zones of the buildings, each double-deck passenger lift with the capacity of 52 passengers or, 26 passengers per deck. There are also 6 heavy-duty elevators for utility.
The lift system information of the Petronas Towers
The service building is to the east of the Petronas Towers and contains the chiller plant system and the cooling towers to keep the Petronas Towers cool and comfortable.
In order to visit the Petronas Towers, visitors must first purchase tickets. Tickets can be purchased online or at the counter. Discounted tickets for seniors are available for those 55 years of age and above. Queues for tickets can get quite long sometimes. The complete ticketing system is provided by the Malaysian-based Longbow Technologies Sdn Bhd.