Twin Towers

The 88-storey PETRONAS Twin Towers was developed as an integral part of the Kuala Lumpur City Centre (KLCC) project. Costing a whopping US$1.2bn and uniquely designed by Cesar Pelli & Associates [U.S] in association with KLCC architects and engineers. The height of the tower is 452 meters above street level [1,483ft] with the total built-up area of 341,760 sq. meters and 33 ft higher than the Sears Tower.

It was completed in 1997, the Twin Towers are a striking glass-and-steel combination with floor plans based on an eight-pointed star. The Towers were designed to symbolize strength and grace using geometric principles typified in Islamic architecture. The towers are also joined at the 41st and 42nd floors (175m above street level) by a 192ft-long (58.4m) double-decker skybridge - linking the two sky lobbies and facilitating the movement between the two towers.

The floor-plate of the tower is designed based on geometric patterns common in architecture of Islamic heritage. These geometric figures have been described by architects as symbolising unity, harmony, stability and rationality - all important principles of Islam.

The towers were built on a 4.5 metre thick raft foundation containing 13,200m³ grade 60 concrete, supported by 104 baretta piles varying from 60 to 115 metres in length. A total of 160,000m³ concrete of various strength up to grade 80 were used to build the superstructures with 36,910 tonnes of beams, trusses and reinforced steels.