Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia): photo, description, history, construction

Reaching the clouds with your hands, feeling like a bird soaring high above a busy metropolis – all this can be done by visiting the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur. These two grandiose structures are unusually beautiful: the graceful domes of giants rest against the bright blue Malaysian sky, everything around immediately becomes small and insignificant. All this is caused by an unprecedented admiration that arises when looking at the city from the observation deck of the most beautiful twin towers.

Kuala Lumpur is a city that is known not only in Malaysia itself, but throughout the world. The name of this place immediately evokes vivid associations among those who have not been here, in which creepers hang from small houses and do not allow them to move quietly, and friendly koalas look curiously at people from the trees. However, Kuala Lumpur is far from these fantasies. In reality, this is the city that is known for its beautiful and modern skyscrapers. The most famous and highest among them are the Petronas Towers.

Malaysia hides a lot of interesting things – read more in our article.

Story

Once upon a time there were directors of the large state-owned oil and gas company Petronas. Everything was fine with them: they had considerable incomes, and there was a desire to develop, but they did not have an office that would meet the requirements and status of the company. Around the same time, many large cities took part in the so-called “race for skyscrapers”: who will have a skyscraper that is taller, who is more beautiful and more practical. The leader in this competition at that time (late 90s) was the Willis Tower in Chicago.

Without thinking twice, Petronas performed the move that won the championship from the United States: built twin towers! Yes, such that they surpassed all their predecessors in both height and appearance. Without thinking twice, the name of the skyscrapers was given in honor of the company – the creator: it sounds beautiful, and good PR.

Architecture

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In Malaysia, the predominant religion is Islam. The architects came up with an interesting move so as not to deviate far from their traditions, even when building such a significant structure, which was destined to become the decoration of an entire city. The eight-pointed star (the symbol of Islam) was taken as the basis for the building plan, and the domes that crown the skyscrapers resemble mosques in their outlines. This pleased the authorities of the city, and played only in favor of the giant twins. To date, these are the most urban skyscrapers in the Muslim style.

Building

The Malaysian Twin Towers are skyscrapers with the deepest concrete foundation in the world! 100 meters, such is the depth, the creation of which took a little more than three years. Throughout this time, every day for every 90 seconds, special trucks alternately poured the foundation of the towers, which consisted of especially high-strength and elastic concrete. This helped prevent subsidence and made skyscrapers completely protected from hurricanes, which sometimes do not bypass Malaysia.

Another interesting thing is the construction of a glass bridge that connects the towers to each other at a height of 41-42 floors. This bridge is not only practical, but also symbolic. On the one hand, thanks to him, people can freely move between skyscrapers. On the other hand, it is a symbol of unification and closeness to heaven; it is not for nothing that the bridge has its own name – Skybridge. It was designed in South Korea, after which it was delivered to Kuala Lumpur in 500 separate parts. Here it was again assembled in its original form and taken upstairs, where it was installed at a great height for 3 days.

Interesting Facts

On Russian cinema screens, the twin towers appeared in the film “Code of the Apocalypse”. According to the script, the heroine Anastasia Zavorotnyuk jumped with one of the towers with a parachute. The stunt was performed by the actress' understudy. The bad luck was that during the jump, a power line was touched and disrupted, because of which the whole block was left without electricity for some time.

Even earlier, skyscrapers appeared in the film “The Trap”, the main characters of which famously flew from one building to another on a kind of “ropes”.

In 1997, the famous French climber “Spiderman” tried to conquer one of the towers by climbing it. However, he only managed to get to the 60th floor, where he was arrested by the police. An unpleasant incident did not stop the daredevil, and after 10 years he tried to repeat his ascent, choosing the second tower. However, ironically, the police overtook him, and again on the same floor.

The gaming industry also could not ignore the famous skyscrapers: the Petronas Towers appear in three levels of the popular computer game Hitman 2: The Silent Assassin.

Read a selection of the tallest skyscrapers in the world on our website.

Petronas Towers in numbers

451.9 m – this is the height of each of the Petronas buildings.

88 floors – this is the height of the first and second towers.

The 6th place in the world is occupied by the twin towers among the tallest buildings in the world.

There are 16,000 windows in these towers.

10,000 people constantly wash and clean the windows of the towers.

30 days – this is how long it takes to completely clean all the windows of the twin towers.

$800 million was spent on the construction of the Petronas Towers.

2-storey elevators serve these buildings. One floor of the elevator stops at an even floor, while the second one stops at an odd one, respectively.

3,000 m2 – so much concrete was needed to create a high-strength foundation for skyscrapers

213,750 m2, or 48 hectares – this is the total area of ​​the entire territory of the twin towers. To make it clearer: this figure is equal in number to 48 football fields.

650,000 people visit various shops every week, which are located in the shopping center of one of the skyscrapers.

Nearly 5,500 vehicles can be accommodated in the underground car park below the towers.

Despite the fact that the Petronas Towers have lost ground in the fight for the tallest skyscrapers in the world, their beauty and grandeur continue to captivate both designers and ordinary tourists from all over the world. An amazing combination of Muslim traditions and the most reliable construction technologies made the twin skyscrapers a miracle of modern architecture.